


The Frozen Heart

by theshippingexpress



Category: Shall We Date?: Wizardess Heart+
Genre: F/M, Post-Apocalypse, Spoilers for Sword of the Queen, fanmade route
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-17
Updated: 2019-10-03
Packaged: 2020-10-20 06:33:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 28,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20670884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theshippingexpress/pseuds/theshippingexpress
Summary: Felix's new goal is to steal the power of the Dragon of Time. Trying to stop him, we land in the future?! We'll have to work with Vain if we want to get back to our time.A few months ago, I made a fanmade route for Felix. Now it's Vain's turn!





	1. Best Friend's Brother

“There's still no sign of him?”

“Not a trace.” Hugo sighed. “Not that either of us could do much in a fight against him right now.. At this point, we still barely only have enough power to send reports back to the future.”

“I'm sorry about that,” I told him, but he shook his head.

“Don't be; you did what you had to do. Besides,” he looked up at the sky, “it's not so bad in this timeline. If we have to stay here a little longer..”

He was right. Just a few weeks ago, we'd been afraid the sky would fall on us, but now, even with Felix still out there, things had been nothing but peaceful. It was hard to believe how we'd narrowly avoided that terrible future.

“It looks like you're settling in well,” I said with a laugh; the two of us had gone shopping in town. Nobody was even batting an eye at the once mysterious man shopping.

“Indeed. Although the liveliness of the village is taking some getting used to. Willem's come by almost every day to share food with us.”

I laughed as I grabbed a few things. “I bet that made Vain happy.”

“Oh, he threw a fit,” he agreed. “It took forever to convince him that Willem wasn't going to try to poison us. Oh, that reminds me,” he turned, heading over to the milk aisle, “he asked me to pick up some milk for Mischa..”

I smiled fondly as I watched him. '_I hope that these happy days will last forever..'_

By the time we made it back to the village, it was quickly growing dark, so Hugo offered to let me stay over for dinner.

As he was starting to stir the stew, he turned to me. “Oh, Willem lent me some tea flavors to try; can you grab them from the living room?”

“Sure!” When I walked into the living room, I was greeted with an unexpected sight.

Vain was fast asleep on the couch; Mischa was curled up against his chest, faintly purring. With his terrifying power- not to mention his temper- Vain was usually quite fiersome, but he looked oddly serene. He looked.. handsome. He almost looked like he was smiling-

_'Wait, smiling?' _ That's when I noticed the mask he usually wore was held loosely at his side. ' _Is this the first time I've seen him without his mask?' _ In fact, without his mask, and his bangs swept to the side, I could see his whole face. I found myself drawn in, but I quickly gathered myself. ' _He probably doesn't want me to see him like this.' _ I quickly grabbed what Hugo had asked me to and hurried back to the kitchen.

“Here,” I said, handing Hugo the tea, “why don't I help you?”

“It's no big deal,” he said, “you can wait in the living room-”

“Actually, uh, Vain and Mischa are sleeping in there. I didn't want to wake them.”

“Oh.” He looked thoughtful for a moment. “I didn't expect him back this early; he was probably out on patrol..”

“It's all right; I'll help you.”

Hugo smiled. “That would be nice.”

“Oh, Hugo, you're back already?” Thirty minutes later, Vain walked into the kitchen, back to his usual pristine self, not a hair out of place, his mask back on again; Mischa trailing behind him. “Oh, you brought the little bunny with you.”

“Hello, you two,” I said. I had known Vain for a few months now, but he was still practically a stranger to me. The little I knew about him was what Hugo had told me about their past. I still found myself often unsure of what to say to him.

“Dinner's ready,” Hugo said, setting down the plates.

Mischa bounced onto the table. “Hugo, did you get the-”

“Yes, just as you asked,” Hugo said as he took a seat at the table.

“Will you be joining us?” Vain asked me, and I nodded. Vain took a seat at the table, starting to take off his mask-

“Oh, uh- you're going to take off your mask?” I asked, looking away. I was torn. On one hand, Hugo had invited me into his house, but I didn't want Vain to be feel uncomfortable-

“It would be a little hard to eat with it on, don't you think?” Even with my back turned, I could still tell that he was smiling. “Don't worry, I don't mind. I suspect that Hugo already told you, yeah?”

When I sat down, I saw his mask was set aside, and my suspicions were confirmed. Without his mask, even with their different colored hair and eyes, the resemblance was undeniable.

_'I thought it when I first saw him, but he really is beautiful-'_

_ “_He said you two are brothers.”

“Correct.” His smile faded. “In the future, any information your enemies have on you could be used against you. Most of the time, our enemies barely know of my existence, but it's still best to minimize what they know.” My heart clenched as I heard his words.

' _This is what they have to deal with every day-'_

“Vain, the food's going to get cold.” Hugo's voice broke us out of our thoughts.

“Right, of course. Not a good thing to discuss at the dinner table.” His eyes widened as he started to eat. “This is delicious.”

“Thank you,” Hugo said. “Liz and I made dinner while you were asleep.”

“Well then, my compliments to the chefs; this is excellent.”

I was caught off-guard by his straight forward compliment. I looked away. ' _It's just a compliment,' _ I told myself, ' _there's no need to get so flustered-'_

“It was mainly Hugo,” I said. “I've been showing him some new recipes; I think he's quite improved.” With access to so much good food in the future, Hugo was quickly flourishing.

“Vain's usually the one who does the cooking when we travel,” Hugo told me.

“Oh, I didn't know that you cook!” I told him; it was hard to imagine him cooking, but it made sense. They traveled a lot.

“I can't make anything like this, but I'd like to think I'm not bad. It's nutritious enough. I'll have to return the favor sometime.”

“Sure, I'd like that.”

It was late by the time that I returned to the dorms; Amelia was waiting for me when I got back.

“I thought you'd been called off again! Where were you?”

“Sorry, I ended up having dinner with Hugo and- Mischa.” I caught myself just before I said his name.

' _I almost forgot she didn't know.' _ Mischa was a familiar sight, but Vain had only ever showed himself to a few people, and it would be a bit tricky to explain who he was. ' _Oh yeah, there's another secret time traveler who's actually Hugo's brother-' _ Yeah, best to keep quiet.

“Dinner with Hugo, eh?” she said, a sparkle in her eye as she sat on the bed. “You've been helping him a lot lately.”

“Oh, it's not like that,” I quickly dismissed. “I've just been helping him get settled into the village.”

“He's been here quite a while-”

I groaned, knowing I was in for a round of questioning. But two could play at that game. “You know, Hugo's the Gatherer of Love. I'm sure he knows all of the couples on campus. I could ask him about you and-”

“ _Liz!”_

The next morning, the other Prefects and I were meeting with Klaus to go over our findings. “At least the Castle in the Sky is still standing-”

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. “Liz, are you in there?” His voice almost sounded frantic-

I quickly opened the door. “Hugo, what's wrong?”

“We found Felix.” My heart went racing. “Willem went ahead, but.. We're going to need your help.”

“We'll come with you,” Klaus said, and the others nodded.

“Show me the way.”

My heart was racing as Hugo led me down a familiar path, one that I had walked a thousand times before. _'Oh, no, no, please tell me he didn't go to-'_

We caught Willem at the forest's entrance. “Willem, are you all right?” He was as pale as a ghost, clutching his chest.

“We tried to follow him in there,” Willem told us, “but there is.. a dark power in that forest. I..”

I shivered, remembering the miasma of the forest. I'd been in there a few times before, but I wouldn't wish it on my enemy. '_To think that Felix would go in there willingly-' _And I suddenly realized what Willem had said. '_We? Oh no..'_

“Willem,” I asked quietly, “did Vain go in there already?” He nodded.

Of course. It was Vain's job to pursue Felix, of course he would pursue him into this darkness- but, if that darkness could affect even Willem like this, what could it do to him?

“Felix is in there?” Alfonse asked. “Then that means he's headed to..”

Willem nodded. “The Tower of Sorrow.”


	2. The Eastern Forest

“You must not let your guard down for even a moment,” Klaus warned us. “If you hesitate, the darkness will consume you. Are you sure that you wish to go?”

“We don't have a choice.” Each of my friends nodded. I can't say that I wasn't worried, but now wasn't the time.

Even with my friends at our side, I still felt chills as we went into the East Forest. _'I never thought I'd step foot in this place again..'_ I'd been here before, but it was no easier the second time around.

With each step into the forest, the darkness grew thicker and thicker until I couldn't see a foot in front of my face. Each step was painful, but I had to keep pressing on, pushing myself deeper and deeper into the dark forest.

“This darkness..” Zeus murmured, “it almost feels like Felix's miasma, doesn't it?”

“He carries the element of darkness,” Willem said. “He'd be right at home in this place.” When I looked over, I could make out Willem's form. None of us were doing that well, but.. He was leaning heavily on his staff, barely able to stand.

“Don't strain yourself,” I told him gently. “You can go back; we can handle this.”

“Thank you, but.. it is my duty to face Felix. I have to do what I can.” I nodded. If he could push through despite his pain, so could I.

Still.. each step was quickly becoming painful; each breath felt like a punch in the chest. For a moment, I was so lost in the pain- that I didn't notice that it had gone completely silent.

'What?' I looked around, but the darkness had grown so thick, I couldn't make out my hand in front of my face. 'How am I supposed to find anyone in this darkness?'

I took a step forward, trying to regain my bearings. But I suddenly noticed that, even though we were in the middle of a forest, there were no leaves underfoot.

When I glanced down, I saw hard soil- cracks in the ground. And when I looked up, through the darkness, I saw the trees, now much more scarce in number, were barren. 'This- this isn't the East Forest, is it?' When I took a closer look, it was as though the trees were- scorched.

I shivered as I remembered Klaus's warning. I had known that this place would play tricks on my mind, but I didn't think that I'd slip so seamlessly into the darkness. In the back of my mind, I found myself wondering why the darkness had chosen this vision- _'I can't let myself get lost in this nightmare,'_ I told myself._ 'This isn't real. I have to keep looking for my friend.'_ I turned away from the scorched earth and kept on walking. _'Felix is still out there; the most important thing is catching him-'_

My mind was racing with worry for my friends, but I pushed myself forward through the darkness. In the distance, I was sure that I could see the tower-

And suddenly, I saw a small figure approaching me in the darkness. I braced myself. _'Who knows what kind of trick this is-'_

"Oh, Liz! Thank goodness you're here!" The familiar voice broke me out of my reverie, and I pulled back.

"Mischa? What are you doing here?"

"Vain and I were chasing Felix, but when we got closer to the Tower, Vain-"

She didn't need to say anymore. "Take me to him." Mischa wove expertly through the darkness, and I tried my hardest to follow after her.

In the darkness, I could just make out a figure, curled up on the steps of the tower. _'Oh, no, Vain-'_ I rushed to him, kneeling at his side, and I saw that he was covering his ears-

"Vain," I cried, grabbing his shoulders, "it's me. I'm here-"

"So loud-" he opened his eyes, but his eyes were glassy, seeing right through me, "why is everything so loud- blaring, blaring-"

_'I don't understand. It's almost completely silent.' _And that's when it hit me. _'That must be.. his nightmare-' _My heart ached at seeing him in such pain.

I looked up to see that the sky had brightened- just enough for me to make out the scorched earth beneath our feet and the barren trees as far as the eye could see-

Hopelessness welled up in my chest as the darkness started to surround us again. '_What can I do? Vain will not awaken, and my friends are lost in the darkness. Felix is probably far ahead of us-_' I felt tears in my eyes.

"Help!”

"Goddess?" I looked up at Vain's voice; his eyes were clear as he uncovered his ears, staring at me as though he was seeing me for the first time. "W-what are you doing here?" Despite my fear, I calmed a little at hearing his voice.

"H-Hugo told me that you were chasing after Felix," I said. "We all came to help, and then Mischa brought me to you-"

"I see." He looked up and let out a laugh. "It's so- quiet-" I had a thousand questions to ask, but I knew that it wasn't my place to ask. I strained my eyes in the darkness.

"Vain," I dared to ask, "what do you see?" Something flickered across his face, but his expression was once more unreadable.

"Trees, trees, and more trees. A normal forest." An illusion. It was all an illusion then. I slowly got to my feet, Vain following me. He looked down at Mischa. "Thank you, Mischa. If you hadn't brought her here, I would have been.."

"It's all right. I'm just glad to see you're all right now." She frowned. "I know that we shouldn't stay too long in this darkness, but.. Liz, you didn't come alone, did you?"

In my relief, I'd almost forgotten- "Oh no! Vain, the others are still out there!" Anything could happen to them in this darkness-

"Liz! Liz, where are you?"

I looked over to Vain. "Did you hear that too?" he asked. "They're calling your name."

"We're here!" I called back. My friends stepped out of the shadows, leaning against each other. Willem and Hugo looked as pale as sheets, but even they smiled when they saw me.

"Liz, you're all right. We thought we lost you in the darkness-"

"I.." But their gazes turned, and I realized they weren't quite looking at me.

"Who are you?" Oh. Right.

Vain straightened his shoulders, lifting his chin. "I'm Vain; we are allies in the battle against Felix. That's all you need to know." I could sense an uneasiness and about a thousand questions from the others, but they didn't press him. All that mattered now was the one who awaited us in the Tower. I only hoped we could get there in time.

My breath hitched as we came to the top floor. Enshrined in the center of the room was a single statue- one that they said had once been the Dragon of Time. But far more terrifying was the hooded figure next to him.

"You're late." Felix beamed. "I thought that darkness would have been nothing for the ones who could steal my castle, but it appears even the Goddess and her messengers have their limits against the powers of darkness."

"Felix," Willem cried, "you don't have to do this-"

"What other choice do I have?" Felix snarled. "Our castle was stolen from us, our dreams of revenge dashed by the one who wields the power of time." His gaze fell on me, and he smiled as he took something from his pocket- a red jewel the size of his fist. "But I figured it out, Goddess. You aren't the only one who wields the power of time.”

There wasn't any time to hesitant. 'I have to use the power of the Goddess Crystal!' I focused my power as I drew out my wand as the others started to chant their own spells. 'Stop his time!' I sent a ball of light towards him-

But he batted it away as though it was nothing. Though we threw spell after spell after him, he didn't so much as flinch. "You're going to have to try harder than that! I wield the power of darkness and time! With this power, the tides of war will once again be turned in my favor, and you will be the one helpless to stop it." He swirled together darkness in his hand, throwing it my way-

But a barrier of light shielded me. I sent Willem a grateful smile as I hurried forward-

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Vain darting towards Felix. "This is it-"

Felix froze for only a moment, but he quickly laughed it off. "Ha! That's all you got? I thought you were something to fear, but you're just as weak as the rest of them!" He knocked Vain aside-

_'No!' _Something inside of me snapped at seeing Vain fall. There was a brilliant flash of light-

"You won't take this from me again, Goddess of Time!" Felix snarled, raising his hand towards me-

As the world turned to darkness, I swore I heard a dragon's roar.

"Liz? Liz, wake up!"

"Huh?" I sat up; someone was shaking me awake, but my blood ran cold as I looked around. The others were quickly getting to their feet, looking just as dazed as I felt. Instead of a darkened tower, we were now in a barren field, and I saw the ground was as scorched as the forest floor. I looked up to Vain. "Are we- back in the forest?"

"I'm afraid not," Vain said, helping me to my feet. "It seems.. when your power collided with Felix's, it reacted, sending us.. here."

"And where exactly is here?"

"The future," Vain said. "Our future."


	3. Future Anxieties

_'The future'._ For so long, we'd lived in fear of bringing about that terrible future in which the sky had fallen. The world in which the Dragonkin had returned and burned the world to cinders in vengeance. Now- now, we had landed right in the middle of it. _'This can't be happening- it can't-'_

"Liz, it's okay, it's okay," Hugo said gently.

"This is not unfamiliar territory to us," Vain assured me. "No matter what, we will keep you safe." I eased a little at their reassurance.

"Don't think you're getting out of this!" Zeus barreled over to Vain. "Do you think we'll just up and trust you when we don't even know the first thing about you?"

"Zeus, don't just go barrelling in!" Lucious scolded.

"But it's true that we don't know you," Alfonse said. "To us, you just showed up right outside the tower.."

"Very well." He sighed, as cool as could be. "Ask away. I will answer what I can."

"Well, for starters," Zeus asked, "who are you anyway?"

My heart was in my throat as I watched them; I wondered if I should speak up- "My name is Vain; like Hugo, I have come from the future- this future- to stop the threat of the Dragonkin." Hugo nodded, coming to stand at his side. Both of their expressions were carefully blank, not giving away anything, and I was reminded of when I'd first met them.

"Wait, then you've been here-" Alfonse caught himself, "er, in our timeline- this whole time?"

"If you've been working with Hugo," Klaus asked, "then how is it this is the first time we're meeting?"

"I have been working behind the scenes to help you," he said. "Although you may not have seen me, I do believe you all know my familiar." He turned and scooped up Mischa in his arms, eliciting cries of shock from the others.

"No way, you're Mischa's master?"

"Correct. Now then, if you're all finished with your questions, we should get a move on. This isn't exactly the best place to stay."

"Oh." I hadn't even thought about it, but we were right out in the open. If any of their enemies should see us, we'd be in a lot of trouble.

"Where were will we go?"

Vain and Hugo exchanged a look, and Hugo nodded. "Back to base, then; from there, we'll be able to return to your timeline." He turned and started heading off, Hugo following shortly after him.

"So, what, we're just supposed to follow him?" Zeus asked.

Klaus sighed. "I don't think we have any other option for now. It's safer to follow and see where they lead." Even Zeus, grumbling, agreed with that, so we all followed after him- off into the future. Who knew what awaited us there?

Of course, as we started walking, Vain quickly became the topic of discussion. "Man, can you believe this guy?" Zeus ranted as we walked. "Coming out of nowhere and bossing us around.."

I looked up ahead. Vain and Hugo were leading the way, quietly discussing something, leaving the rest to follow behind them.

"I can't believe that there's been another time traveler all of this time," Caesar said a sigh. "I guess we should have asked Mischa more about him."

"He may be a little.. shady," I said, "but he's a trustworthy person."

"You say that like you know him," Lucious commented.

"Well.." I looked away, unsure of what to say. But, apparently, my silence was enough.

"What? What do you mean that you already knew him?" I quickly covered Lucious's mouth; Vain shot a glare over at him. "Sorry.." Vain turned back to Hugo, muttering something about a 'noisy bunch'.

"I've run into him a few times," I admitted;

"When was this?" Zeus asked.

"Do you remember the case with the General?" As I saw them put the pieces together, I decided not to mention the first time I'd met him. Not exactly the best first impression. Of course, not that this was exactly the best first impression either.

"I've met him a few times as well, when I stood at Felix's side," Willem said. When I glanced over at him, I saw that he was doing better, regaining his color. "We nearly came to blows at the factory, truth be told; that power of his is quite something."

"Ugh, just when I thought I was starting to understand what's going on."

A few hours later, Vain and Hugo stopped. "It's still a long ways to the base," Vain said. "We should make camp here for tonight."

"Are you sure this is a safe place?" Klaus asked. "This is a very open area."

"It'll have to do for now; there isn't much cover for miles around." The others begrudgingly agreed, and we all got to work setting up camp.

_'This isn't how I imagined coming to the future,'_ I thought. I'll admit, the thought of coming to the future had crossed my mind once or twice, but I'd always thought of what I could do to help. Though I'd carried my bag with me when we'd gone into the forest, I didn't have nearly what I thought I'd bring. I thought I could give them seeds or food.

With all of us working together, we quickly had set up camp, and we had a small campfire going. I saw the others casting glances at Hugo and Vain, talking in low voices. "I wonder what they're talking about.." Alfonse said.

"Little prince, Baroque, come here for a minute," Vain called out. "You too, little bunny."

"Little prince?" Lucious grumbled as he went over to where the brothers were sitting. "What is it?"

"We'll need disguises for the three of you," he said. "As the leaders of the resistance and the Goddess of Time, the three of you would be almost instantly recognized."

"What do you want us to do? We didn't exactly bring a change of clothes.."

"What you're wearing now is fine.” Luckily, none of us were wearing our uniforms. Vain looked thoughtful for a moment, then he took off his cloak, handing it to Lucious. "Little prince, use this to cover yourself." Lucious took the cloak, fastening it around his head like a hood. I could just make out his eyes peeking out from under the hood; Caesar let out a little laugh.

"The fiersome leader of the resistance-"

"Shut up, Caesar!"

As Vain talked to Caesar, I noticed Hugo slipping off his scarf, tying it over his eyes. "What are you doing?"

"Although I am known to the people of your timeline, it is dangerous for me to go without a mask here," he said. "Since I lost my mask in your timeline, this'll have to do."

"Will you be able to see through there?" I asked, waving my hand.

"I can see you doing that," he pointed out, and I put my hand at my side.

"And as for you, little bunny." Vain turned to me, studying me for a moment. "I doubt the people will recognize your face, but the legends do speak a little of the appearance of the Goddess. You have a.. distinctive look, after all."

"Hmm.. What if I took my hair down?" I said.

"That should work." I pulled the ties from my hair, letting it fall freely down my shoulders, and I saw the other's eyes widen for a moment. "What? Is there something on my face?"

"It's nothing- nothing-" Vain quickly got to his feet. "I need to speak to Willem." He breezed past us.

_'What was that about?'_

And another thought occurred to me, one that I can't say didn't trouble me, no matter how much I tried to push it aside. '_Why am I the only one who didn't have to cover their face?'_

That night, though I tried to sleep, troubled dreams followed me. Finally, I gave up on sleep. _'Perhaps I'll just take the next watch..' _A beautiful humming caught my ear, and I found myself following the sound.

My heart leaped into my throat at the sight. Vain was sitting by himself, humming as he combed his long hair, now free from its ponytail; his long hair seemed to shine in the moonlight.

_'He's so beautiful..'_

He looked up, and I froze, but he just smiled. "Couldn't sleep, little bunny?"

"Yeah. I.." I shook my head. "Bad dreams." Even now, the details of my dream seemed hazy, but I just remembered a brilliant, blinding light. Luckily, he didn't press me on that. "Mind if I sit with you?"

"Go ahead." I took a seat next to him, and we sat in silence for a little while.

"Is it your turn to keep watch?" I asked idly.

"Technically, Willem is. I tried to tell him he could go and sleep when he got up, but he refused. He'd probably tell you the same." He shook his head. "Stubborn dragon.." I glanced over, and I saw Willem sitting by himself, watching the horizon. "Since I was up already, I thought I'd take the moment to take care of personal things." He gestured with the comb in his hand. It was strange to see this powerful time traveler doing something so mundane like combing his hair. He was so at peace, and I felt like my nerves were on fire.

"It's a little surprising. This is all so.. terrifying to me," I admitted. "I've traveled a bit, but not like this. Not in a world filled with such.. danger. Camping like this, taking turns keeping watch- And yet you seem so at ease here."

"That's just because it's new to you," he said. "But this is my domain. I've spent most of my life traveling like this. If I never did anything for myself while traveling, I'd never do it at all."

My heart ached. "That's right, this is your life.." I would be able to go home soon, but he'd had to endure this for so long. "I'm sorry."

“No need to apologize.”

I watched him again, “Hey, Vain, can I comb your hair?” I blurted out without thinking. “It just looks very soft-”

Did I really just say that? Great, maybe the future had some rocks I could crawl under..

To my surprise, he handed me the comb. “Be my guest.” Oddly enough, I did feel a little better.

"Why did you grow your hair out?" I asked. "Surely, it's a hassle. I know I have a lot of hassle with mine.."

"Oh, it is, but you could say it's my major vanity." He smiled a bit at his own joke, but his tone grew somber. "..My father had long hair just like this. It's.. the only thing I can remember of him." He let out a bitter laugh. "I can't even remember his face, but I remember that."

Oh. Hugo had mentioned them in passing, but that was the first time I'd really heard about their parents. "I'm sorry." My heart ached as faint memories of my parents played in my mind. "I know how that feels. When I try to remember mine, I.." I tried to speak, but the words came out. He didn't press me, so we sat in silence for a while.

Finally, I pulled away, handing him back his comb. "There you go. All done."

"Thank you," he said with a smile, tying back his hair in his usual style. And he suddenly turned to me, gently touching my hair.

“I know this all seems scary now. But you have no reason to fear. We will protect you.” My heart was in my throat as I looked up at him."Why don't you try to get some sleep, little bunny? I'll try to see if Willem's ready to hand over the watch."

Strangely, after that, I slept a lot easier.

_Not too far from the time travelers, a figure in a hooded cloak wandered through the scorched land. "Let's see what this timeline holds for me.."_


	4. Chapter 4

* * *

"I can't believe I'm doing this again.."

"I told you, this is for your own safety as well." Despite all my fears from the night before, I couldn't help but giggle at seeing Willem in his plushie form again. "In this timeline, you are one of our greatest enemies; it would be too dangerous for you to walk into the base in your true form." Willem accepted the explanation with a sigh.

"Here," Caesar offered, "you can sit in my bag."

"How long is it to this base of yours, anyway?" Klaus asked.

"It's hard to say. At worst, I'd say we're a few days walk if we hurry."

"The sooner we get out of this place, the better."

"There it is. Our base."

I squinted, following his gaze, but I couldn't see anything. "..I didn't know the resistance had an invisible base." Then again, I guess a resistance base wouldn't be very good if it was visible to the enemies.

Vain rolled his eyes. "Wait here." He walked up to the hill, and he seemed to vanish for a moment, though I still heard his voice.

"Aren't you going to go in, Hugo?" I asked.

"It's usually Vain who handles this things," he told me.

After a few minutes, Vain came back. "Follow me." It didn't look like we were walking towards anything, really, but- in an instant, the dunes around us became walls of steel- and there were so many people, looking at us.

'That's odd,' I thought. Their clothes were similar to Hugo and Vain's, but.. 'They almost look like academy uniforms..'

I kept looking forward, but I could hear the people whispering around us. 'They've never brought so many people back before.' 'Who are they?' 'Say, that one looks like-'

"I feel like I'm back at the Ministry again," Caesar muttered.

"To think that we-"

"Vain, what is the meaning of you bringing so many people along with you?" a woman asked. I wondered if she was one of the guards.

"There was.. an incident at the Tower of Sorrow," he said. "I'll need to speak to the higher ups to fix things."

"An incident? Oh.. That might explain things actually. But first.."

"I know." Vain brushed aside his bangs for a moment, and Hugo lifted his hand, black sparks crackling in his palm, as though poised to attack- but then went right back to normal.

"Then right this way, sir. ..Good luck in there."

As we started to head to the hall, I heard a voice bellow, "Vain, what is the meaning of this?!"

Someone came barrelling out of the office at the end of the hallway, and my heart almost stopped. Though he was older now, his face was unmistakable- almost a perfect copy of Lucious.

Even Vain, who had brushed off our Lucious only a little while ago, seemed to go pale. "Sir, I know how this looks-"

The older Lucious stopped. "What are all these people doing here? You-" He looked between us, going pale- and stopped on me. And I'll never forget the look on his face- as though he never thought he'd see me again. "Liz?"

"You didn't know?" The older Lucious shook his head. "Then, sir- what is this about?"

Lucious met his eyes with an icy glare. "In my office. Now." He turned to one of the guards, standing outside, growling, "Get Caesar."

If seeing the older Lucious was strange, seeing Caesar was even stranger. And yet he looked at me in the same way Lucious had. A shiver ran down my spine, but I pushed back the fear.

"You weren't kidding. It's really them!"

"Now," Lucious said, facing Vain, "tell me everything. You said there was an incident at the Tower of Sorrow?"

And so Vain and Hugo explained everything that had happened, about Felix stealing the Dragon of Time's power, about our desperate attempt to stop him, our powers colliding- and all of us waking up here.

"In the interest of full disclosure," Vain said, taking Caesar's bag, "there is another that we brought with us." He tapped on the bag, and Willem came out, giving a sheepish wave to Lucious. "I can promise you that he is our ally; he has fought alongside us, as well as helping us at the tower."

'He revealed Willem so easily?' I thought, but then I winced. 'I guess hiding a Dragonkin isn't to your advantage when you're fighting Dragonkins..'

"Vain," Lucious growled, "do you have any idea what you've done? All of these people thrown into our future- and you didn't think that another could have come with you?"

Caesar stepped forward, handing Vain files. "It's true. We have reports from all around; there is no doubt about it." Vain picked up the files, his eyes widening.

Vain went as pale as a sheet. "There is no way-" he said, "no way-"

Hugo stepped forward. "Sir, I don't understand. What are you talking about?"

"We didn't just bring them back with you- you brought Felix back with you too."

'No, no- no-' Of course, if the power could send us here, we should have known- that power would have grabbed anyone in range, but I hadn't thought he would come with us simply because I hadn't seen him-

"All of these years, all of the comrades we've lost in the battle against the Dragonkins, just trying to get a hope of defeating Felix or Lacan- tell me, Vain, Hugo, how are we supposed to defeat another Felix?" They both looked away, shame flooding their features. "You have put this entire timeline in jeopardy. You have put everything in danger- I should kick you two out for this!"

My heart ached as I saw their expressions. I saw fear in their eyes; even the usually unflappable Hugo was shaking-

Despite my fear, something was stirring in me as I heard Lucious berate him. "Don't speak to him like that!" Lucious's gaze fell on me. "If they hadn't gone to the Tower, our entire timeline would have been swallowed in darkness! They had no way of knowing what was going to happen, but.."

I pushed back my fear, raising my chin as I faced Lucious. "If you're going to blame anyone, blame me! It was my power that collided with Felix's, not theirs!"

Lucious's eyes widened. "You? I can't-" He shook his head, his eyes softening. And finally, he sighed, shaking his head. "..You two are our best agents; you've served us faithfully for all of these years."

Vain raised his head. "Sir, I swear that I will fix this; I won't rest until we find Felix- and, this time, I will destroy him."

The older Lucious and Caesar asked to see Vain and Hugo alone, so the rest of us stepped into the hallway.

Alfonse was the first to break the silence. "That was.. intense."

"It was so weird to see the future version of myself," Caesar said.

"Same here," Lucious admitted. "I was- terrifying."

"And yet not an inch taller," Zeus said with a laugh.

"Shut up!"

"You're drawing too much attention to yourself," Klaus chastised the both of them. Still, I couldn't help but laugh as I watched them; it felt like the knot in my chest was loosening, like I could finally breathe again.

"..So," Caesar finally spoke up, "what are we going to do now? Are we just going to go back?"

"It would certainly be.. easier." Looking between their faces, I could tell that each of my friends was feeling the same way I did, though they might not have put it into words.

Surely, the resistance could send us back to our own timeline, and how easy it would be to leave everything behind. To live in a world where we no longer had to worry about Felix, where we'd no longer have to fear the sky falling. To just let them deal with it.

But I couldn't do that. We'd made a promise when we'd broken Lucious free, promising to all the world that we would take our future into our own hands, that we would save ourselves. And like it or not, Felix was a part of the future that we had to face. We couldn't just turn tail and run.

"I'm.. I'm going to stay here." I faced my friends with resolve. "Hugo and Vain.. they're relying on us. Besides, it was my mistake that brought Felix here-"

"Don't blame yourself," Lucious said.

"He's right," Caesar said. "I doubt any of us could have done anything against Felix back there. If you hadn't moved, we would have all been toast back there." The others nodded. "But.. still, I agree with you. I'll stay here too. Leaving Felix here makes me uneasy, anyway."

"Me too," Zeus said. "We've faced him before, we can face him here." Hiro silently nodded behind him.

"Of course I will," Lucious said.

"It'll be interesting to stay in the future!" Alfonse said cheerily. "I'm sure we can help a lot of people!"

Klaus nodded. "We have a duty to protect the people of this world as well."

"I'll help you as well. After all.." I looked up to see Willem's head poking out of Caesar's bag again; I could see sadness in his eyes. "It is my duty to stop Felix, even in this timeline."

My heart warmed as I heard each of my friends affirm their commitment. 'Thank you guys,' I thought. 'I know that we can do anything as long as you're together.'

"No. Absolutely not."

..On the other hand, my idea to stay in the future was not really welcomed by all. Scarcely had I brought it up than twin voices shot me down. Honestly, I wasn't expecting to be shot down by both of them.

Hugo told me, "You are far too valuable to stay in this timeline."

"It is too dangerous for you here," Vain agreed. "This is our mistake; it's best to return home and let us take care of this." My heart clenched at the thought of the two of them staying here. To just go and sit at home while they were fighting- to not know what was going to happen to them-

"I won't just leave you behind!"

"All right." I looked up at Lucious. "You can stay here."

"But sir-" Vain protested.

"Believe me, Vain, seeing her hurt is the last thing I want." And once again, he had that look that made my heart clench. "But I can't stop her."

"Besides," Caesar said, "neither you or I have the power to send anyone back to the past right now. We are struggling with power as is. I trust that you will be able to keep her safe, won't you?"

"Yes, sir," Vain said through gritted teeth.

"We are currently attempting to locate the Felix from the other timeline. We'll send for you when we have more information."

Vain told me he'd show me to my rooms, but he was silent on the walk back. But truth be told, my mind was swimming with questions, one big question in particular.

"Vain, can I ask you a question?"

"What is it, little bunny?"

My chest felt tight as I tried to get the words out. A part of me was saying I shouldn't ask, saying that I was only signing myself up for heartache, but.. 'You already know the answer, don't you?'

"What became of me in this timeline?" I finally asked.

His expression darkened, and then he turned away. "I don't think you want an answer to that-"

"..I'm already dead, aren't I?" He froze, and that was all the answer that I needed. "I've been dead for a long time, haven't I?"

I knew it; I knew it from the moment I saw their faces- that look, like they never thought they'd see me again. I'd be gone for a long time- long enough that the people no longer knew my face.

Vain sighed. "It's hard to say. Lucious and Caesar never talk about it, but.. As far as we can tell, Liz Hart died when Gedonelune fell."

I won't lie, it hurt a little bit, to find out my fate like this. I remembered that vision of that terrible future Hugo had shown me long ago, of the city in ruins. 'Was that the day that I died?' But I took a deep breath, calming myself. 'That.. that wasn't me.'

"I see." I faced Vain, raising my chin. "I will not let that be my fate. I know that you want to protect me," I said, "and I appreciate everything that you've done for us so far, but I can't just stand back and do nothing while you're out there fighting this fight."

To my surprise, Vain laughed, ruffling my hair. "If it was anybody else, I wouldn't believe you. But somehow.. maybe we can manage this."

_From the ruins of a castle, two figures looked down upon the world. The brighter one turned to the other. "The Knights have reported a figure in a white hood wandering in the Daybreak Ruins. They say he looks just like you- and some say that he might even be just as powerful as you."_

_ "Please, impossible."_

_ "Do you want to deal with him?"_

_ "It does sound like fun, but.. Daybreak is your territory, isn't it?" The brighter one nodded. "I'll leave it to you then."_

_ "Excellent." He smiled. "This is going to be a lot of fun."_


	5. Life At Base

It was strange to wake up in the resistance base instead of in my dorm. The walls were cold and gray, and there were many beds in one room, many left open.

When I awoke, I saw a group of the other girls sitting around, whispering amongst themselves.

"What were they thinking? It's not like either of them to act like this."

I walked up to the small group. "Excuse me, what are you talking about?"

"Oh, I guess you haven't heard," one of the women said. "Yesterday, this huge group arrived at the base with the Gatherer of Love and the Frozen Heart." Were they talking about Vain? "We'd never seen anything like it!"

"Perhaps it has something to do with that girl they brought back. I heard that even Lord Lucious went pale when he saw her."

"That would explain why they've been acting so different lately. They're usually so cold, but the Gatherer even smiled at me yesterday." Huh. I was so used to the way that Hugo was now, I didn't even think about how it must've looked to the others.

When I left the dorm, Hugo was waiting for me; I noticed he was carrying a large backpack with him. "Ah, there you are. Until we can find Felix, the higher ups have assigned each of us jobs. You'll be working with me today."

"Okay. What are we doing?"

"We're on deliveries today." Honestly, I was a little excited to see the inner workings of the base. I had seen a little bit of it the day before, but now I'd get to see everything.

"What about the others?" I asked as we walked.

"I believe Alfonse and Caesar opted to help out in the infirmary. Klaus is working with Vain and the higher ups. Lucious, Zeus, and Hiro are helping out with the new recruits."

"And what about-" As Hugo opened his bag, I noticed a familiar plushie poking his head out.

"..Vain thought it would be better for him to stay with one of us, so he's coming with us too."

To my surprise, as we walked through the base together, the people would cheerfully greet Hugo. "Oh, you're back, Hugo! It's good to see you're doing well!"

"We're back for a little while," Hugo said with a smile as he handed over the package. The man seemed a little shocked to see his smile, but he happily accepted his package.

As we walked away, Hugo casually held out his hands, gathering power. "It feels weird now that I don't need to do this anymore, but it never hurts." Although he had once struggled with keeping his magic charged, he hadn't had a problem with it since the Magical Board Game finals. He had once said it was because of his friendship with us- 'even the noisy ones'.

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you're on good terms with everyone here," I said.

"Of course. Most of the people here have known me since I was a child."

"Do they know about..?" After all, despite his familiarity, Hugo was wearing his mask again.

Just then, Vain and Klaus came walking by, talking in low voices. I expected them to say something, but Vain just brushed by us without a word.

"No, they don't," Hugo told me once they were gone. "As far as they know, Vain's one of the executives, and I'm just a field agent. Only the higher ups know the truth."

"How long have you lived here?"

He paused. "I came here when I was about seven. Before then, it was just me and Vain traveling together."

"What about your parents?" I knew it was the wrong question as soon as I said it, but..

"I don't remember them," he said. "As far as I remember, it was always just the two of us."

I remembered what Vain had said about their father before. _'I don't even remember his face..'_ They must've been quite young when they lost their father.. "I'm sorry."

"It's all right. Now come on, we have other deliveries to make."

"This place just goes on forever, doesn't it?" For a place so well hidden, the base was enormous. "It's practically a city in itself."

"I'm amazed that you're able to power everything," Willem said, poking his head out of the bag. "There is something familiar about this magic though.."

"Almost everything here is powered by the Dragon of Time," Hugo explained as we took a seat to rest.

"Huh?!" That was not the answer I was expecting. I caught myself, but luckily, no one else was around. "But how can he-" Oh, right, I kept forgetting. I doubt there was anything to keep him in the tower when the world burned down around him. "Does that mean that he's alive in this timeline?"

"As far as I've heard," he said. "But, even when he was unfrozen, he shut himself in his tower, away from the rest of the world. Its said that once a year, some of the members of the base venture to the Tower of Sorrow to obtain more of his power."

"That's amazing, though I'm a bit surprised that he didn't side with the Dragonkins.."

"Not at all surprising," Willem said. "I'd imagine he still hates Felix for his involvement in the war."

"You say that like you personally knew him," I said jokingly.

"Well, I did. Hugo was a Dragonkin himself."

"No, I'm not," Hugo said, looking confused.

"No, not you, Hugo. The Dragon of Time. His name was Hugo too."

"I always thought it was ironic,” I said lightly. “The Guardian of Time sharing the same name with the Dragon of Time. Your parents probably named you after him."

Hugo looked a little flustered, but mercifully, Willem went on, "He was a dear friend of ours; when the war broke out, he fought by our side. But.. he left us when his daughter died in the war.”

“I didn't even know he had a daughter,” Hugo said.

"But Felix and Lacan haven't tried to force him to join?"

"I've heard they can't reach the tower; the darkness in the East Forest has grown even worse, especially for Dragonkins. They say that Dragonkins have tried to go into the forest- and were never seen again." Something stirred in the back of my mind at his explanation, but I pushed it away.

Occasionally, Hugo would stop at a door, but the person wouldn't be there. "They're probably out on a mission right now; I'll drop it off at the main office."

"A mission? Are they in other timelines too?"

"No, they're probably off on other missions. Looking for food or supplies- or searching for survivors to bring back. Those were the kind of missions I used to do before we discovered our powers."

"So the others don't have time powers like you do?"

"As far as I know, the three of us are the only ones with those powers," he said. "My power has mainly returned since coming back here, but.. I still don't have enough to send anyone back to the past."

"If only," I said. "You're not getting rid of me that easily. We've still got work to do."

A bell rang from above us. “Huh? Is that one of your bells, Hugo?”

“Hardly. Come on, it's lunch time.” He lead us to the cafeteria. People I'd seen all over the base were gathering for lunch- including a few familiar faces.

“Hey, over here!” Zeus waved us over; we grabbed our food and went to sit with them.

“Zeus was just telling us about training with the recruits,” Caesar told us. “Did you really nearly summon Vulcanaux?”

“I thought it would be good to show them what I could do!”

“Thank goodness the base is fireproof,” a voice said. I looked up to see Vain and Klaus coming over to us, sitting with us.

“What are you doing here? An executive having lunch with field agents?”

“It's lunch time. Even the leaders mingle with us during lunch, especially when we have this much food.”

I looked down at my plate. '_This much?' _Truth be told, it wasn't a lot of food to begin with.

“This is a lot of food?” Zeus asked.

“You came at a good time,” Hugo said. “It's lucky we had enough food for everyone.” My heart ached at his words. I heard the others murmur, but they were trying not to complain.

“Most of our food goes to the field agents on missions,” Vain said smoothly. “You'll be thankful for it when we go to find Felix.”

“Hey, Vain, there's something that I was wondering,” I said. “Why do some people here look like they're wearing academy uniforms?”

“I've heard they're supposed to resemble them. After the fall of Gedonelune, Caesar and Lucious turned the uniforms into a symbol of the rebellion.”

“Oh, I see!” Come to think of it, Hugo's cloak almost looked like a Night Class uniform. “Your cloak looks like a Day Class uniform..”

“You think so, little bunny?”

“Hey,” Zeus asked suddenly, “why do you always call her little bunny?”

“Why do you ask?” Vain asked without missing a beat. “Do you wish for a nickname of your own?”

“Oh, I'm definitely curious as to what nickname you'd give him,” Lucious snickered.

“Hey, what about them?”

“Hmm..”Vain rested his chin in his hand. He pointed at Lucious. “Little prince,” then at Caesar, “little piggy. The doctor, the grumpy one, the swordsman, and..” He pointed at Zeus. “Big mouth.”

“Hey! Well, what about him?” He pointed to Willem.

“What are you talking about? All I see is a plushie?” Zeus sputtered, and Vain sighed, glancing over at Hugo, just trying to eat his food. “Hugo, you've got something on your face.” He picked up a napkin, wiping at Hugo's face.

Hugo batted him away. “I can take care of myself!” I couldn't help but giggle as I watched them.

_'Ugh, what is that noise?'_

A piercing noise rang throughout the base, people rushing all around. "Come on," the other girls were saying, "we have to get out of here!"

As we rushed into the hallway, a familiar voice called out to me, "Liz!" I looked up to see Vain and Mischa rushing towards me. "Lucious and Caesar ordered me to get you out of here."

"What's going on? What's that sound?"

"That's the warning bells; it means that the base is under attack."

Even as we were talking, I saw that he was wincing, and I remembered that moment in the forest-_ 'the alarms, blaring, blaring-'_. "Are you all right?"

"I'll be fine," he said sharply. "Right now, my priority is getting you to safety.”

"Right." As much as I wanted to stay and look for my friends, it might be better for me to go with him. I pushed back my fear, following him.

"Stay close to me." He took my hand, leading me down away from where the others were running; I could feel Mischa following closely at our heels.

As we ran together, one thought kept racing through my mind, '_I hope the others are all right_.' I hadn't seen any of them in the chaos. But they'd dealt with situations like this before.

We found ourselves going down a long, dark hall, and I stopped for a moment, the visions of the forest playing through my mind. "Are you sure this is all right?"

"Trust me, I've been down here hundreds of times." He looked up at me. "Don't worry, it's nothing like the forest." But as he said it, he reached up and brushed his bangs from his eyes.

"What, is there an enemy down there?"

"No-" He looked a little startled, "this is just so I can see better down there." Oh. Right. I guess I was being a bit jumpy.

I followed behind him. And though I could scarcely see a foot in front of me, he went on like it was no trouble at all. And I was suddenly acutely aware that I was still holding his hand- "Where are we going anyway?" I asked, trying to distract myself.

'_Don't get so flustered,' _I told myself. _'He's just trying to make sure you don't fall flat on your face in the dark.'_

"To the shelter below base; it's the safest place here. Even a Dragonkin will find themselves having a hard time getting in there."

Bright light assaulted my eyes as we stepped into a room. "We should be safe in here." Vain shut the door behind him, leaning up against a wall. And once again, he winced, covering his ears. "Though I wish the room was soundproofed." Even now, I could still hear the alarms blaring above us.

"Vain.." Mischa brushed up against his ankles, and he scooped her up in his arms, sitting against the wall. I could hear her purring across the room. Even with the alarms blaring, my worries seemed to drain away.

"I know you must think it's silly," he said suddenly, looking at Mischa.

"What?"

"A warrior- a leader of the resistance- afraid of something like that. Afraid of a little alarm."

Did he really think I'd judge him for that? "Well, to be fair, those alarms are pretty terrifying," I said coming to sit beside him. "Besides, everybody has something they're afraid of, don't they?"

He slipped off his mask, leaning against the wall. "Even the Goddess of Time?"

"Oh, sure!" I said. "I'm afraid of lots of things. Bugs, ghosts, Schuyler-" Vain just gave me a confused look at that one- "-well, I mean, you get the point." Now I felt a little silly.

"For what it's worth," he said, "I don't think those fears are silly either. It's always good to stay alert, after all.”

"Thank you."

We sat in silence for a long while, just waiting- and then he started to talk again. "I remember, there was one time.. when Hugo and I first arrived at the base, the alarms were going off like mad." His eyes were distant as he recounted the story. "One of the worst attacks, they said, part of the base had been destroyed. When I tried to find Hugo in the dorms, he wasn't there.

"I rushed out into the city to find him. I thought-" He froze, looking off into the distance, "Anything could have happened to him. When I finally found him, he was tearing through the wreckage. He'd heard a kitten's meowing, and he wanted to save her. Always had a gentle heart, that one. I was ready to drag him back, but he refused. So I had no choice but to help him.

"The kitten was little and hungry, but we managed to get her out. Hugo insisted on bringing her back with us- though he got mad when it turned out she liked me better than him.

"It's funny.. Even though I'm sure the alarm bells were still going off at the time, it's like I didn't hear them. I was so focused on the two of them that I forgot all else."

"What happened?" I asked, though I had a feeling I knew where this story was going.

He smiled. "The kitten wouldn't leave my side, so the leaders let me keep her. She's been by my side ever since." He smiled down at Mischa in his arms. "Whenever my panic takes hold, she helps me through it." My heart warmed as I looked at the two of them.

Suddenly, I looked up, straining my ears. Things had gone completely silent upstairs. "Do you hear that?" Vain tilted his head. "The alarms stopped." Everything was still-

And then there was a knock on the door. "You can come out now," a familiar voice called. Vain opened the door to see Hugo there.

"Is everything all right upstairs?"

"It's fine," Hugo said. "It was all just a false alarm. Someone forgot their code at the door." He rolled his eyes. We both breathed a little easier, hearing that.

"Well then, I guess we should be heading back, huh?" Vain slipped his mask back on.

As we started heading back up the hallway, Vain took my hand, and I didn't let it go.

When we got back to the base, I saw that all my friends were safe and sound. _'I guess there was nothing to be afraid of after all.'_

A few days later, Lucious and Caesar called us all to their office.

"We found your Felix," Lucious told us, laying down reports on the table. "We have reports that he's recently been spotted in the Daybreak Ruins."

"The Daybreak Ruins?" I asked. "Where's that?"

"I believe it's what used to be Solomon," Hugo told me. I shivered. 'Used to be'. I suppose it wasn't just Gedonelune that had been attacked by the Dragonkins, but it was still strange to think that a place that I'd visited was just.. gone now.

For a moment, it seemed that Vain went tense, but he nodded. "Understood. We'll head there at once."

"There's just one problem," Caesar spoke up. "He's not the only one who's been spotted there recently. We've heard that a white-horned figure has been spotted heading there as well."

Even Vain went tense. "White horns.. You can't mean-"

"Yes. It appears that Lacan himself is headed to the scene," Lucious said. "And if he finds Felix.. Well, you just better hope that you're the ones who get to him first."


	6. The Ruins

Although the leaders offered to let some of us stay at the base, in the end, we all ended up going.

As we were heading out, Vain stopped us at the door. "Before we go," he said, "in case things go wrong, we should have a code word so we know that we're not dealing with clones."

"Oh, what about the Promise Pendants?" I mentioned. "We used those last time- Oh, wait." Crap, I'd left it back in my dorm with Amelia.

"It's all right, I don't have mine either," Zeus admitted. Hiro and Lucious sighed in frustration but avoided my eyes.

"What do you normally do at the base?" I asked.

"Normally, all it takes is a little show of power," Vain said. Ah, that explained what I'd seen with the guard. "Although, in this case, a code word might be easier if we don't want to give ourselves away. Something that only we'd know." We all lapsed into silence, thinking of a code word-

"I've got it," Klaus said, glancing at me. "Bunnyhead." Oh, great.

Vain smiled. "I like it."

"Hey, wait a minute-"

"Bunnyhead it is then." I sighed, but I let it go. It was as good a code word as any.

"So how far is it to the Daybreak Ruins?"

"I'd say it was a few hours away by train," Hugo mused, "but by foot, it could be a few days travel."

"A few days? I'm not waiting that long!" Zeus hollered.

"It isn't the best way," Vain said, "but it's not like we have any other option-"

"Can't you two teleport?"

"The energy required to take a group this size-" Vain protested, but Hugo shook his head.

"Actually, that's not a bad idea," Hugo mused. "My magic has been steadily returning since we returned to the base."

"Are you sure, Hugo?" He nodded, and Vain sighed.

"Besides," Caesar pointed out, "I'm sure it won't take Lacan long at all to get there. We'll need all the advantage we can get, don't we?"

Vain nodded. "Very well. Between the two of us, we should be able to pull it off." He scooped up Mischa, setting her on his shoulder, and looked around at our group, immediately taking charge.

I'd teleported with Hugo a few times before, but the feeling of suddenly landing was still dizzying. Vain looked over at me and Klaus as we landed. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," I said, looking around. I saw Willem waiting for us with Lucious, Zeus, and Hiro. "..Where are we?"

"We're a short distance from the Ruins," he said. "Far enough that our enemies shouldn't have seen us teleport in. We'll be there by tonight."

Just then, Hugo appeared with Alfonse and Caesar, and Vain went over to him. "It appears that we managed it. It didn't put too much strain on your power, did it?"

"Just fine," he said coolly, and I was a little impressed. Teleporting had taken its toll on him before, but he didn't have a hair out of place. "We should proceed to the ruins as soon as possible."

Vain looked a little taken aback, but he nodded. "Of course. Let's go."

"This is.."

As we stepped into the place that had once been Solomon, my heart dropped. The towering building was reduced to rubble, pieces strewn about in the streets.

Logically, I knew that it wouldn't be the same- that this place had turned to ruins long ago- but to see it for myself.. Not too long ago, I had been here, playing Magical Board Games in the stadium, buying snacks from the vendors, and now it was all rubble. Not a single soul was left wandering the streets.

"Where have all the people gone?" Zeus asked. "Shouldn't they be inside?"

"A lot of them have come to the base," Vain said. "The rest either hide in fear of the Black Dragon Knights or.." He didn't need to say another word. "Let's get going. We should find Felix here soon enough."

We stuck close together, searching the ruins for any sight of Felix, but he was nowhere to be found.

As we were walking, Hugo stumbled, suddenly pale; Vain was at his side at once. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," he said. "I guess teleporting this far did take a bit more power than I thought. I just need to recharge my power a bit.."

"Then we're stopping here for tonight," Vain said. "We can find Felix in the morning."

"Vain, I told you, I'm fine-"

"Hugo, I will send you back to base, if need be." Hugo's eyes widened, but he shut his mouth, nodding.

"I think it would be good for all of us to take a rest," Alfonse said. "We'll need to be at our best if we're going to face Felix."

As before, we quickly made camp and assigned watches, but things were oddly silent, after that little spat. Hugo quickly went to sleep, and Vain sat by himself.

"Liz.." Caesar beckoned me over; he was sitting with Alfonse and Klaus. "Is it just me or has Vain seemed oddly tense since we left the base?"

"I mean, aren't we all?" I said. "Being in this place-"

"Well, I know, but this feels different. Like what happened between him and Hugo earlier."

"It was like he was worried that Hugo was going to fall apart," Alfonse said.

"I.." I remembered once before, when Hugo's power had failed, and Vain had taken him away. Truth be told, the incidents weren't too dissimilar. "I think that he worries a lot about Hugo," I said honestly.

"That's understandable," Klaus said. "From what he told me, they've traveled through many timelines together. I'd imagine it's hard not to worry about someone like that."

"I just worry that there's something else going on," Caesar said. "Something he's not telling us.."

By the time the others had gone to bed, Vain and I were the only ones left up. Even Mischa was curled up asleep at his feet. Caesar's words from earlier were bugging me, so I went up to him. "Do you mind if I sit here?"

"Go ahead." We sat in silence for a while, but, to my surprise, he spoke up first. "..I guess the others noticed, didn't they?"

"..Yeah, they did. They said you seemed a little tense. Especially with regards to Hugo."

"Of course." He sighed. "..I've been nervous about coming to this place- and even more nervous about Hugo coming here. There's something- something I haven't told him about this place."

Well, the Peers were both mysterious. It shouldn't have come as a surprise that Vain would have his fair share of secrets as well, even from Hugo. "Whatever it is, I'm sure it's not that bad, he'll understand-"

"..I think this is where our father died."

Oh. "Okay, that's a bit of a bigger secret." He nodded. "Hugo doesn't know?"

"Hugo never knew him. Dad died when Mom was pregnant with Hugo," he told me.

"What happened?"

"I'm.. not quite sure." He paused, and I wondered if I had gone too far- but then he slowly started to speak, his voice and eyes distant, "The three of us were staying in this city, in the ruins, much like this. There weren't many places that would accept a family like us, but we thought we could hide away here.

"And then one day, I woke up, and he was just.. gone. I thought he would come back, but he never did. That day, me and Mom left this city and never came back."

"Until now." He nodded.

"Mom died a few years after that, and I've been raising Hugo ever since," he said.

My heart ached as he told his story. "I'm so sorry." He must've been just a child himself, all alone in this world. "I.. I remember how it was when I lost my parents- I can't imagine raising a younger sibling on top of it. Especially.." Especially in a world like this.

"I always worry about him," he said. "Whenever his power failed, whenever we were driven from one timeline to another.. We've.. we've lost a lot in this world, but it's always been the three of us. I've always been there to keep him safe."

"But it's not just you now," he said. "You have us."

"We do. And he's changed a lot since coming to your timeline. He's more open now, more friendly now. He's even been smiling much more."

"He's much stronger too," I said. "Being able to transport all of us here- that's pretty impressive."

"I know. He doesn't need me to hold his hand for him anymore," he said with a bittersweet smile. "I've been trying to let him stand on his own two feet, but this place brings back those old fears. I'm afraid it's all going to happen again. I'm afraid.. I'm afraid I'm going to wake up one day and he'll be gone too."

I reached out and took his hands. "I understand your fear. But you don't have to be afraid anymore. We're not going to disappear on you, I promise. We're going to face Felix, we're going to face Lacan if need be, whoever's out there- and we're going to do that together."

He looked a little taken aback. "Together, huh? That.. doesn't sound so bad."

The next morning, we all got up to search the ruins again. I saw Vain pull Hugo aside while we were searching, and though I couldn't hear what they said, the both of them seemed much more at ease afterwards.

Finally, we had decided to go in groups. Willem, Hugo, and I were picking through the ruins together.

I sighed. "We've been looking for hours and there's still no sight of him. You don't think that he could have moved on by now, do you?"

"I don't think so," Willem said. "I can still sense something-"

"Now, this is interesting," a voice said. "It's been a long time since I've seen any new blood around these parts. What could you be doing here?"

Willem looked up, and I saw all the blood draining from his face. "That voice- no, it couldn't be-"

A man bounded out of the ruins. He had long, dark hair and and a cheerful smile- and white horns. "I have to say, I wasn't expecting the famous Guardian of Time to be here- let alone that he would bring friends."

_'No, no, no-' _I had a sinking feeling in my stomach, and one look at Willem's face confirmed my fear. The man who stood before us was Lacan himself. If this had been our normal home, I would have been overjoyed- but this was not the Lacan we hoped to revive. This was the man woken up when the sky fell down around him- and who had joined Felix in its chaos.

"And what is this?" He tilted his head. "I sense.. dragon's blood among you. What is one of my own doing among you?"

"We need to get away now," Hugo growled. He turned to me. "I'll hold him off. Run, go get Vain and the others-" He raised his hand, his Magic Circle appearing-

"Don't you know it's rude to interrupt?" With a flick of his hand, he sent Hugo crashing to the ground, dismissing his power like it was nothing.

"No!" I whipped out my wand. "Saggita Lumen!"

But when the light faded, he stood there without even a scratch; he laughed as he turned to me. "Who do you think you're dealing with, girl?" he asked. "I am the embodiment of light itself; do you think your little arrow could do anything to me?"

And Lacan grinned as he slowly approached Hugo, struggling to get to his feet, and he smiled, sending chills down my spine. "Oh, it appears that I was wrong. Not one but- two dragons among you."

Hugo froze. "What.. what do you mean?" I didn't understand.

It was just the three of us, so how.. unless-

"Oh, even you didn't know? What delicious irony." He raised his hand, his horns glowing in a white light. "It's a pity that I must say goodbye to you-"

"You won't hurt him!" A barrier enveloped us; I looked up to see Willem, back in his true form, had cloaked the three of us in a barrier. Lacan's eyes widened, but he never lost his smile.

"This day is just full of surprises! I had heard rumors of another Felix appearing among the ruins, but to think that there would be another Willem as well! I'll deal with you in just a minute." With a wave of his hand, he sent out a shockwave of light, crashing against the barrier.

_'I have to help!'_ I threw in my own power to the barrier, but it seemed to do nothing against Lacan's light.

"Get away from them!" My heart leapt into my throat as I saw Vain running towards us. In an instant, he was before Lacan, and Lacan looked at him curiously.

"That hair.. I've seen hair just like that before once-" But Vain quickly lifted his bangs, freezing Lacan in place.

"You're here-" Hugo quickly got to his feet. "I have to do my part too." He sent out a maroon light- and everything seemed to freeze. "We have to get out of here."

We quickly caught up to the rest of the group and fled the ruins. Vain was able to take us a little ways away.

I kept glancing over at Hugo; he seemed to be in a certain daze, his mind a million miles away. 'Is that the first time he's faced Lacan?' I wondered, but.. I had a feeling there was more to it than that.

That night, after all the others were asleep, Hugo approached me. "There's something that I need to ask Vain," he said. "But I.. I can't do this alone. Will you come with me?"

"Of course."

Vain was once again sitting by himself when we approached him. "Is everything all right?"

"When we were facing Lacan, he said something-" Hugo raised his chin, meeting Vain's eyes squarely. "He said there are 'two dragons among you'."


	7. Rain, Rain, Go Away

Vain went silent, shock and shame flooding his face; he turned away, avoiding his eyes. "Well?"

"He was right," Vain said at last. "You and I.. we are Dragonkins as well."

Truth be told, suddenly, a lot of things were making more sense.

"But.. how is that possible?" Hugo asked. "I would have known- everyone would have known-"

"We are not full blooded Dragonkins, no, only half," Vain explained. "Human enough that no one would question it. I thought we could hide it, but there were certain.. effects that I didn't anticipate. A child born with the ability to channel magic through the eye; a child who could only create magic through the power of love."

"Half.." Hugo's eyes darkened for only a moment. "Which one then? Mom or Dad?"

"Hugo-"

"Answer me," Hugo growled.

"..Mom."

"And who all knows about this?" Hugo asked.

"The two of you.. the leaders- I told them when we first joined," that made sense, it would be hard to get that kind of secret past them, "and.. Willem. He asked me about it after the Tower."

"The Tower- oh!" There had been something that had been bugging me, in the back of my mind, since I had seen Vain in the East Forest, but I couldn't put my finger on it. I thought it was odd that even Willem, one of the strongest people that I knew, was brought to his knees, but it's because the forest had targetted him. "That's why the darkness in the forest affected you so badly."

"Yes," he said. "I didn't think it would be a problem, but.. when I chased Felix into the forest, the darkness nearly consumed me. Had Liz been even a little bit later.. I probably would have been lost in the darkness forever."

"Why didn't you tell me? All of these years, why didn't you say anything?"

I felt strange, watching the two of them- like I wasn't meant to be there. On one hand, this was family business between them- but, also, Hugo had asked me to come with him. So I stayed silent as I watched them, wondering what I should say.

"I didn't think I'd need to. I thought it would bring only unneccessary trouble. The child of a Dragonkin doomed to fight against the other Dragonkin- I thought to know the truth would only bring you strife. I'm sorry."

Suddenly, Hugo turned on his heel and stalked away. "Hugo, wait-" Vain's voice sounded strained, threaded with fear.

"I just need some time to think. I just.. I just need some time to process this. Whatever else you have to tell me, whatever other secrets you've been keeping from me, you can tell me tomorrow." Vain nodded, and Hugo vanished.

Vain sighed as he sat down, burying his face in his hands. And then he looked up at me with a bitter laugh. "Do you hate me now too, little bunny?"

"No," I said, sitting next to him, "although, a lot of things make more sense now." He sighed. "It's not an easy situation, and I can't.. I don't know what I would have done if I were in your place. But I don't hate you for it."

"That's a relief," he said. "I don't know why, but the thought of you being angry with me makes me.. uneasy."

"That's odd," I said. "You always seemed like you didn't care about what other people thought."

"I didn't," he said. "I don't quite understand it myself, honestly."

"And," I pointed out, "I don't think Hugo hates you for it either. He's just confused right now."

"I know," he said with a sigh. "..Truth be told, I do feel better now that he knows the truth, even if he had to find it out from him of all people. If this hadn't happened, who knows how long it would have been before I would have told him. And now Lacan.."

"Hey, it's my turn for the watch." I turned to see Zeus walking up to us, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. I looked to Vain, but he just shook his head.

"I think I need to get some rest," he said. "I'll see you tomorrow, little bunny." He patted me on the head as he walked by.

I looked over at Zeus, but he just waved me off. "You get sleep too- little bunny."

"Ugh, don't call me that." And I froze as I realized something- "Hey, Zeus, how much did you hear just now?" He just gave me a confused stare.

_'Somehow, I think we're fine.'_

The next day, we were once again searching the ruins. After the last encounter with Lacan, we had decided to stay in a group. 'I hope that we don't run into Lacan again..'

Suddenly, I felt drops on my skin. "Huh?" I looked up at the sky; I hadn't noticed how gray the sky was turning. Rain was starting to fall around us.

"That's right, I forgot that it doesn't rain in Gedonelune," Hugo said with a bemused smile. "Don't worry, I think this is a good sign."

"Speak for yourself," Lucious said. "Rainy days give me unease."

"Considering how hot it's been until now, it's a bit surprising that it still rains," Klaus mused.

"This is nice and all, but shouldn't we find shelter?" Caesar said. "We can't fight Felix if we're all shivering from the cold."

"I think I saw some places over there." And soon our search for Felix turned into a rush for shelter. While most of Solomon was in ruins, we quickly found a bit of roof for all of us to hide under.

As I sat under the roof, a million worries raced through my mind. 'Lacan is still out there. What if he finds Felix first? What if he comes back-' I suddenly felt something draped over my shoulders.

"I know that this is scary," Vain whispered to me, "but just remember to breathe." I took a deep breath, feeling the tension ease. "Close your eyes and count to ten." I did as he told me, starting to count off- and I felt a warm, familiar presence in my arms.

I looked down to see he had put Mischa in my arms; she smiled up at me. "I know anxious thoughts when I see them. But we can't catch Felix if we worry ourselves sick."

"He should know," Mischa told me. "I've seen him worry himself sick enough-"

"Mischa," Vain said, "there's no need for that." She laughed, and I couldn't help but join in.

"Thank you," I told them. "I do feel a bit better." As we sat together, I turned my attention to the others, standing at the edge of the pavillion. I noticed Hugo sitting by himself, calmly staring out at the rain.

"Oh man, this brings me back!" Zeus cried. "Do you remember how we used to splash each other in the rain puddles?"

"Zeus, you were the one doing all the splashing," Hiro said. "I was running away from you."

"Oh, getting splashed isn't that bad- HEY!" Lucious had run out into the rain, splashing Zeus and Hiro.

"Maybe this whole rainy day thing isn't so bad after all."

"Why you little-" Hiro smirked as he splashed Zeus as well before dashing into the rain. "Get back here!"

"Such childish behavior," Klaus said with a sigh, coming to sit with us.

I couldn't help but poke fun at Klaus. "You say that, but your water fights with Sigurd at the academy are legendary. One time you dragged me into it!"

"Are you talking about the time that you fell into the water?"

Urgh, he didn't need to remind me of that. And to make it worse, Vain leaned in. "Now I would be interested to hear that-"

Luckily, Alfonse was my savior. "Oh, I wish I could have seen that," Alfonse cooed. "I remember Klaus and Elias fighting like that when they were little."

"Who's Elias?" Vain asked.

"He's our other brother," Alfonse said. "One time, he and Elias were fighting, and Klaus tripped and-"

"Alfonse-"

"Oh, that brings back old memories," Willem said with a laugh. "The rainy days were always so much fun at the castle. I remember one time that Lacan went running out in the middle of a storm. Felix was so worried that he dragged me out to go for look for him. When we finally found him, it turned out Lacan was picking flowers for his girlfriend." He tilted his head. "What was her name again.."

I couldn't help but giggle as I listened to their stories; it felt like all of my anxiety had melted away._ 'Not a bad way to spend a rainy afternoon.'_

"Oh great, not you too!" I looked up at the surprising laughter. Lucious and Hiro had continued splashing Zeus, but now even Hugo had joined in! Hugo bolted, and Zeus went chasing after him. "Get back here!"

"Oh great," Vain said, getting up, going over to the edge of the pavillion. "Hugo, don't go running off, you'll catch a cold-" Imagine Vain's surprise when Hugo turned and splashed him.

"I thought you could do with a bit of cooling off, Vain.”

"That's it." This time, it was Vain's turn to chase Hugo, laughing all the while- but Vain's foot caught on a wet patch of ground, sending him falling on his butt.

"I.. I meant to do that." I couldn't help it. The sight of the proud Vain flat on his butt, the utter shock on his face, was so ridiculous that I burst out laughing.

When he fell, his mask had slipped off, allowing us to see Vain's face had gone bright red. But when he looked at me, I think he was smiling.

"Hold still." After a while, everyone had grown tired of playing in the rain, so we'd started a warm fire, all gathering around it now. Out of all of us, Vain had ended up the most soaked- Zeus coming in at a close second- so I had grabbed a towel and was helping him dry his hair.

I could hear the others snickering around us. "You shouldn't have gone running off like that," Hugo said; his teasing tone of voice suggested he'd probably heard the same speech from Vain a million times over. "You'll probably catch a cold now."

"Oh, you think you're so funny?" Vain reached out and grabbed Hugo's cheek, pulling on it. Hugo didn't waste an instant, grabbing Vain's cheeks in retaliation.

"You know, there was something that I was wondering," Caesar said as he watched the two of them. "How do you two know each other? I mean, obviously, you know each other from the base, but you two bicker like old friends. You must've known each other a long time, yeah?"

Hugo and Vain exchanged a look, and Vain spoke up first. "Actually.. Hugo and I are brothers."

"What?!" The others let out a surprised cry.

"I didn't even know that Hugo had a brother-"

"Well," Caesar said with a laugh, "that would actually explain a lot. It would certainly explain why you've been so protective of Hugo." Klaus nodded beside him.

"What, you guys didn't know that?" Zeus said, looking baffled.

_'Of all the people, he'd figure it out first?'_

"Is that why you guys wear the masks?" Lucious asked, peering at his face. "Come to think of it, you two do look a little alike.."

"I don't see it."

"Don't stare at me," Hugo said, brushing them off, but even he was smiling. Vain and Hugo both seemed more relaxed.

"I would've thought that you had the sense to run away by now." The voice sent shivers down my spine. I turned to see Lacan sitting on a pile of rubble, smiling at us. "But I suppose that makes it more fun for me."

No time to hesitate. I whipped out my wand. "Saggita Lumen!" Bursts of light hit Lacan from all around-

"Over here." And suddenly Lacan was waving at us from around a corner. "Or over here?" Another Lacan- "Oor maybe over here?" Suddenly, it seemed we were surrounded by Lacans from all around us.

"Are they all shadows?" Zeus cried.

"Only one of them's the real Lacan!" Hugo roared. "The rest are just duplicates!"

"But how do we know which one's the real one?" Caesar asked.

"We'll just have to cut through them all!" Hiro pulled out his sword, slicing through a few of the Lacans with ease. We all followed his lead, casting our spells at each of the Lacans. Hugo touched the ground, sending out a red light, freezing all of them at once- a few wavered and disappeared.

"There!" Vain rushed towards the one that was left-

"Oops, sun in your eye." Lacan waved his hand, sending out a beam of blinding light; Vain staggered back- and just like that, Lacan was gone. "I'm surprised that you could see with that hair in your face anyway." As Vain staggered back, Lacan landed a punch in his gut, bringing him to his knees.

"Vain!"

"Well, this has been fun; it's been a while since I've had a challenge like this. But I've got to get rid of you." He raised his hand, gathering a ball of light-

"There you are!"

'Oh no, it can't be-' Lacan and Willem both turned at the voice as Felix walked towards us.

But.. there was something different about Felix. When he got closer, I saw that his robes were dirty and ragged, as though he had been running through thorns, and he was stumbling towards us. But when he grabbed Lacan's arm, Felix was beaming from ear to ear. "All this time, I have been looking for you," he said. "I've made my way through the darkness, through all the pain of this wretched world, to see you again. It's been a rough road, but here you are at last. After everything.. Finally, we can-"

And Lacan just laughed and laughed. "I'm sorry, Felix- who do you think you are?"


	8. Felix

"Who do you think you are?" Those words echoed through the battlefield, all of us staring as we watched the two immortals.

"What are you saying, Lacan?" Felix's smiled wavered, clutching onto Lacan's arm like a lifeline. "It's me, Felix. I'm the one who awakened you."

"Oh? Let's see then." Lacan waved his hand, shooting a dragon-like ball of lightning straight for Felix. Taken off guard, the lightning hit its mark, and Felix crumpled to the ground.

"What are you doing?!" he roared. "Stop this at once!" Lacan just smiled and waved his hand, sending hundreds of light arrows in his direction. Felix watched, frozen-

"Felix!" In an instant, Willem had reached out, covering him in a barrier.

"You may call yourself Felix, but your power is nothing compared to his. You are a mere shadow of his power."

"How dare you?!" Felix roared. "Do you have any idea what I've done- what I've sacrificed to bring you back? Everything I've done- everything has been for your sake! We were supposed to rule this world together!"

"And I am grateful to Felix, really, for awakening me. I awoke, and he handed me this world on a silver platter. I've had such fun. But that wasn't you. You are only a shadow of the Felix that I know- and shadows are nothing to the light."

"Felix-" Willem cried, "this isn't our Lacan! This is-"

"Quiet, you." Lacan shot out a blast of lightning at Willem, knocking him on his back.

"Willem!" Felix struggled to get to his feet, but Lacan hit him once more. This time, when he fell, he didn't get back up again.

"I don't know who you two think you are, or why you wear the faces of my dear ones, but it's time for you to go." Lacan waved his hand, gathering light-

"Lacan, wait!" A hand grabbed Lacan's arm, and I recoiled in surprise, for I was sure I was seeing double. Another Willem stood before us.

"What is it, Willem? I'm in the middle of something."

"Felix sent me to come get you," he said. "He said there was an issue with the Knights."

Lacan smiled. "Very well, Willem." With that, he turned into a white fog and disappeared. And we were left alone with the other Willem.

But this was not the Willem that I knew. This was the man who had awakened the Black Dragon Knights and served as Felix's right hand. 'What will he do?'

He turned to us. "I don't know who you are or what you seek to do, but get out of here while you can. Get him out of here." Our Willem quickly ran to Felix, gathering him up in his arms.

"Thank you.."

"Just.. take care of him." With that, the other Willem was gone, and I breathed a little easier.

Against all odds, we had survived the fight with Lacan, and we had found Felix. There was just one question left: 'what do we do now?'

The first thing we did was get the heck out of the ruins. I admit, I was breathing a little easier getting out of there.

"What are we going to do about him?" Zeus asked as we settled down. Vain and Hugo had taken us pretty far, but Felix still hadn't awoken.

"Our mission was to find and destroy him," Vain said, getting to his feet. "We can end this all right here, right now."

"Vain.." Willem, sitting at Felix's side, looked up, pain written across his face.

"Step aside, Willem." Vain brushed past him, holding out his hand at Felix.

My heart was in my throat as I watched him; I felt like I should speak up, but I couldn't find the words. Felix had hurt so many people. For goodness sake, he had stolen the power of the Dragon of Time, landing us in this whole mess in the first place.

"Ugh, I feel like I got hit by a.." Felix suddenly stirred, sitting up. But he froze as he saw Vain.

"Don't move," Vain growled- and, to my surprise, Felix started to laugh.

"Well, that's just perfect," he said. "I have nothing left. Everything I've done has been a failure, in this timeline and in any other. I failed to save Lacan in my own time, and in this timeline.." He shuddered. "I created this wretched world."

"You sound like you've had experience with that," Vain growled.

"I've seen more of it than I'd liked to," he said. "I've spent the last few weeks just trying to survive in this place. Wandering through the barren wasteland, dodging attacks from the Black Dragon Knights.. I thought it would all be worth it if I could just see Lacan again, but.." He looked away. "You all saw how that turned out."

What were you expecting?" Vain snarled. "You wanted his hatred to burn like yours; now you're surprised when he casts you aside for being weak?" Felix fell silent.

“ If I could.. If I could take it all back-"

Something was bugging me. There was something different in the way that he talked. When he spoke about Lacan, his eyes were distant with regret. It was the same look that I'd seen in Willem's when he asked us to stop the destruction of the Castle in the Sky.

"But you still can," I said. "In our timeline, there's still a chance for you to turn back. You can stop that future from turning into this future."

"Hugo, watch Felix for me for a minute. Goddess, a word?" Vain and I stepped aside, where the others could not hear us. "Do you even hear yourself right now? Do you really think that Felix could turn, after everything that he's done?"

"Vain- I think that he's different now." I faced him with confidence. "He's changed."

"I have lived through hundreds of timelines; I have faced a hundred different versions of Felix- they all are the same," he said coldly. "What makes you think this one is different?"

"Because he's never been here," I said. "He's never seen what the world could become- the hatred that consumed Lacan- and now he's seen it with his own eyes. He has no reason to try for this future anymore."

"Liz.." He avoided my eyes for a moment. "If you're wrong about this-"

"Please," I said, grabbing his hands, "just trust me." I looked Vain dead in the eye. "I want to see a future without bloodshed- and that goes for the Dragonkin too. I want to see them return peacefully- I want to see a future where Willem, Felix- even Lacan- can live in peace with us without their hatred. And that might just be within reach."

"..I'll trust you," he said finally. "We'll take him back to your timeline." I nodded. "But if he becomes a threat again, I will strike him down."

"I understand."

He sighed as he went back to the others. "I won't strike you down," he declared to Felix. "You'll come with us back to your timeline."

"You're making a mistake, trusting me-"

"I don't trust you," Vain said coldly. "I trust Liz. I believe that she can build a better future than the one you've created." My heart warmed as I heard his faith in me. I looked to the others, and I saw the same resolve in their eyes. I was glad that they all agreed with me.

"Very well." Felix bowed his head; he looked like all the fight had drained out of him.

"Alfonse, can you heal his wounds?" Vain asked. "It'll be easier to get him back to base."

"Sure." Alfonse, a little startled, went over to Felix, healing his wounds. I could see that Felix wanted to say something, but he kept his silence.

I heard Willem murmur 'thank goodness', as he made a beeline for Felix's side. "Are you all right?" he asked quietly, helping him to his feet. Felix nodded.

"There is something else that I wanted to ask you," Vain said suddenly. "Why have you not traveled back to your timeline on your own? Last we saw you, you were carrying the power of the Dragon of Time."

"I would if I could; I don't have the Dragon of Time's power anymore," Felix said. "I lost it back at the Tower."

"A shame. It would have been the easiest way to get back to your timeline," Vain said.

"You haven't sought out Hugo's daughter?" Felix asked.

"..What?" Vain asked.

"When I knew him, Hugo- the Dragon of Time, not him," Felix clarified, "had a daughter."

"I've heard of her, but Willem said that she died in the war," Hugo pointed out.

"In this timeline, we would've brought the Dragonkins out of time, from before the moment of their death. That would 

"Don't joke with us-"

"He's telling the truth," Willem said. "I hadn't considered that she would have been brought back in this future. I thought.." He fell silent, glancing at Vain. I wondered what he was going to say. “I didn't know her that well though.”

“I didn't either,” Felix admitted. “But I remembered that Lacan was deeply in love with her.”


	9. Chapter 9

"We'll be heading back to base in the morning," Vain declared as we made camp for the night.

"That's good," Alfonse said with a sigh of relief. "I don't think we have enough food to last for much longer."

"Who's turn is it to cook, anyway?"

"I'll do it," Vain said.

"I didn't know that you could cook," Zeus said as Vain grabbed the supplies.

"I've picked up a thing or two. It may not be the feast that I promised," he glanced at me, "but it's not horrible."

As we sat down around the fire to eat, I noticed Felix and Willem sitting by themselves. The others would glance over at them, but they gave them a wide berth.

_'What the heck.'_ I grabbed an extra plate of food and went over to them, offering the plate to Felix. "You must be hungry, right?" I couldn't imagine that he'd had much to eat over the past few weeks; even a Dragonkin had to eat sometime.

He gave me a flat look. "..I am your enemy."

"Just take the food," Hugo said bluntly.

"..Thank you." He took the plate from me and practically scarfed it down. Satisfied, I went back to sit with Vain.

"I don't think I'll ever understand you, little bunny," Vain said, shaking his head as he offered me my plate. "Showing kindness even to our greatest enemy.."

"Should I not have given him food?"

"It's fine."

"Man," Zeus said, "I can't wait to eat good food again in our time."

"It'll be nice to get back and sleep in a nice warm bed," Caesar said.

"And to not have to worry about looking for Dragonkins.. Especially Lacan."

I guess it hadn't really sunk in that we would soon be heading home. After so long of fearing, of traveling with the others, we would be back and safe in our timeline within a few days.

But, in the back of my mind, a new fear was starting to rise. 'What happens once we go back?' I couldn't help but glance at Vain at my side. Our timeline would be safe, so.. 'Will he and Hugo have to come back here? Will that be the end?' There was an unpleasant feeling in my chest at the thought.

Vain tilted his head. "Is there something on my face, little bunny?"

"N-no. Just.. thinking. About how nice it'll be to go back."

I pushed aside my fear. Going home was supposed to be a good thing, right?

The next morning, it was decided that Vain and Hugo would teleport us back to the base, as before.

"Felix, Willem, you're coming with me," Vain said. "While you wait for the rest of us, you can be figuring out how we're going to get you into the base."

Felix rolled his eyes. "Yes, sir." But he obediently went with Vain; Hugo followed after them a moment later with Alfonse and Klaus.

I took a seat on a nearby rock to wait for them. 'In a few minutes, we'll be back at the base,' I thought with a sigh. 'We won't have to worry any longer.'

"I guess we'll have to bring Felix in in disguise," Caesar was saying. "Do you think he can transform like Willem can?"

"Hopefully he's a little better at it," Lucious said. "Do you think we could get him to transform into Hachi?" Their mundane conversation filled the air, bouncing suggestions off each other, and I instinctively relaxed.

After a few minutes, Vain and Hugo reappeared, and we realized a problem. Hugo and Vain could only take two at a time each; that had been perfect when we'd been traveling together the first time, but now we had an extra person with us.

"You go ahead," I said without thinking. "I'll wait here for you."

"Are you sure?"

"It's only a few minutes, right?" I said. "Just remember to come back for me." They seemed to hesitate, but I waved them off.

I'll admit, I felt a bit nervous as I waited for them. 'I've survived this long in the future,' I thought. 'I can survive a little longer-'

"Well, I didn't think I'd find you by yourself, little wizardess."

My blood ran cold as I heard the all too familiar voice. 'No way, there's no way-' And yet when I turned, I saw Lacan waiting for me.

"I'll admit, I still don't understand everything. Felix and I have been wracking our brains as to how another Felix- and another Willem- could have appeared in this world. And I certainly don't understand what it is about you that makes everyone around you so desperate to protect you." Lacan smiled as he walked up to me. He lifted his hand, glowing with light. "But there is one thing I do understand. Where you go, those two will always follow."

"Those two?" I was frozen in fear, trying to will myself to move. But- even if I could, what could I do? All of my attacks had bounced off of him. Even Hugo and Vain had only managed to freeze him.

"The Gatherer of Love- and the one with the pink hair. Let's see what they'll do now." He raised his hand, throwing a blast of light at me-

'I have to move now!' I scrambled to cover myself with light, falling over myself in the process.

But he waved away the barrier in an instant, swirling together light in his hand, his horns glowing with light. But he suddenly turned- "Irachion Jule!"

Oh no, no, no- I followed his power- only to see Lacan's light connect with Hugo, striking him in the face and sending him clattering to the ground next to me, his mask following a moment later.

"Hugo!"

"Your name is Hugo?" He didn't say a word, but Hugo's glare told him everything. "Of course, I don't know why I didn't put it together sooner. That silver hair, those eyes- that strange power- yes, of course, that must be it. You're her son. Which means that-"

"Liz! Hugo!" Vain rushed towards us-

"Ah, ah, ah!" Lacan reacted whip quick, reaching up and grabbing Vain by the hair! "Ah, here's the one I was waiting for."

"Let go of me!" Vain growled.

"I knew something was off as soon as I saw you, saw this hair of yours," Lacan said smoothly. "I've only seen a color like this once before, a man I'll never forget. The man who took my Lily from me."

"What?!"

"I chased them through my territory, but that human had to stop to rest," Lacan said with a smile. "I found him when he was alone- and I killed him. It's amazing how easily humans can fall, isn't it?" He smiled, his eyes alight as he raised his hand towards me. "I know. That man took my dear from me- how about I take yours?"

"You- you!" Everything happened in an instant. Vain grabbed a dagger from his boot-

  
  


-and brought it up through his long hair!

"What?!" Lacan stumbled back in shock, still holding fistfuls of hair- and Vain landed a punch in his stomach. "You little-" Vain quickly lifted his bangs, freezing Lacan on the spot.

"That won't last long." Vain turned to us, running towards me and Hugo. "We have to get out of here now." I took his hand-

"I-I won't let you get away!" Lacan shot out another blast of light, hitting Vain in the back-

Everything glowed in maroon and white around us-

And suddenly, we were back in the base- in fact, we had landed right in the middle of the base. And what a sight we must have made- landing in an eruption of light, Vain shielding us with his back, masks lost in the struggle- not to mention, his long hair shorn-

"What the heck happened here?"

"Vain, sit still!"

It had been a few hours since we've arrived back at the base, and it seemed like things were finally startling to settle down. There had been so many explanations to go through, including arguing my case with the older Lucious and Caesar to take Felix back with us to our timeline. After a while, they asked to speak to Vain alone, and I was left on my own.

Finally, Vain had come to me, his face red, and asked if I would help him with something. We'd settled down in his room, and I was now helping him fix his hair.

"Sorry, sorry," he said with a wince, trying to sit still. It was honestly a bit adorable how much he was fidgeting.

"Have some patience, Liz, he doesn't do this a lot," Mischa said, sitting on the bed, grinning. "As you can probably tell." Vain just sighed.

"Not ever," he said. "Not since I was little, I don't think. Not since before.."

"Oh, right." I decided to speak up. "I was.. I was pretty amazed that you'd cut your hair just like that to protect me."

"I wasn't just going to sit there and let him hurt you," he said, as if it was the simplest thing in the world. Perhaps it was. "Besides.. I don't think my father would have minded too much if he knew."

"Your father.." I felt a lump in my throat as I remembered Lacan's words. 'It's amazing at how easily a human can fall, isn't it?' "Do you want to talk about it? About what he said?"

He sighed. "Honestly, I.. I had a feeling. I always had a feeling that's what happened. The ruins have always been Lacan's territory- and when he recognized me, it almost confirmed it. Still.. it's quite different to hear it from his mouth though. To know for certain that Lacan was the one that killed my father."

"I'm so sorry, Vain," I said honestly. "I know how much that must have hurt."

"It's all right," he said. "It.. it honestly feels nice to know. I've had that question open in my mind for such a long time- wondering, wondering- but now I know the truth. It feels like a weight off my shoulders." He laughed. "Quite literally." He looked up at me. "Are you almost done?"

"Just one final touch." I set down the scissors, turning him to face me. I took a few strands of his hair in the front and pulled them into braids. "There we go." I handed him a mirror.

"This looks wonderful." I had managed to keep a little length, fashioning his hair into a longish bob, though his bangs were still the longest part of his hair. The long locks had suited him well, but seeing him like this, especially without his mask- I won't lie, my heart was racing a little.

'He's beautiful..'

"Where'd you get the idea for the braids?"

"Oh, uh, they're like Hugo's." I realized what I'd done as soon as I said it. "Oh, you can take them down if you want." The idea was fun, but I didn't want to put him in jeopardy.

He shook his head, running his hand through his hair. "It's fine. After showing up like that, without our masks, I think everyone knows the truth by now. Even Lacan.." He sighed, taking a seat on the bed. "And if Lacan knows, I'm sure that it'll get back to Felix soon. No point in hiding it anymore."

"I'm sorry-"

"I told you already, there's no need to apologize," he said with a wave of his hand. "I'm sure the truth would have come out eventually- especially since Lacan already knew Mom." He sighed. "I could have gone the rest of my life without finding that out."

I remembered what Felix had said. 'Lacan was desperately in love with her.' With those words, it was like all the missing pieces had come together. "Vain, your mother.. Do you think-"

"Yeah, I do," he said. "I talked it over with Felix and Willem, and they confirmed it. Turns out they've had their suspicions for quite a while." He sighed, looking me in the eye. "My mother was the daughter of the Dragon of Time."


	10. Resolution

"My mother was the daughter of the Dragon of Time."

His words hung in the air, the truth finally out there. I struggled to think of anything to say. "Did you know?"

"I had my suspicions," he said. "She never talked about her family or her life before she met Dad, but I never thought to question it back then. And then it turned out we had the power of time.." With that truth, a lot of things were starting to make sense. Why they alone had been born with the power of time- even Hugo's own name made more sense with this knowledge. "I don't blame her for keeping it a secret though. After all, with all my secrets, who am I to judge?"

"She sounded like a wonderful woman," I said honestly.

"She was," he said with a smile. "I miss her every day." He reached over to his bookcase. "Would you like to see a picture of her?"

"Sure!" I took a seat on the bed next to him, and he pulled out a photo album from the bookcase, flipping through it. I couldn't help but peek at the different pictures.

Finally, he pulled out one of the pictures. I saw a beautiful woman with long, silver hair cradling a baby in her arms. "She's beautiful," I said. "You look a lot like her."

"Really? I always thought Hugo was the one who took after her, to be honest."

"No, you look a lot like her too. Although you both look a lot alike without the masks." I looked at the picture again and couldn't help but laugh. I noticed Vain just peeking into the frame. "Oh my gosh, you were so little then! How old were you there?"

"Probably about six or seven?"

"So then that's Hugo in her arms?" He nodded, and I'll admit, I was curious. I glanced at the book in his hand. "Is that book filled with pictures from when you two were little?"

He gave a devillish smile. "Do you want to see?" I nodded, and he flicked through the photos. Even Mischa was peeking over my shoulder at the book.

  
  


I found one with Hugo and Vain grinning at the camera; Hugo was holding Mischa in his arms. "I remember this," Mischa said happily. "This was just after you found me."

"Huh?" The younger Vain was wearing a familiar blue scarf. "Isn't that Hugo's scarf?"

"It was actually mine first," he told me. "I gave it to Hugo when we started going out on missions so I could always find him. He had a horrible habit of getting lost. One time-" he stopped himself, shaking his head. "Hugo would probably kill me if I told you that story."

We continued to look through the pictures. Another one caught my eye; a much younger Vain was holding a toddler with silver hair. "Hugo's so little in this one," I cooed.

"He was just learning to talk around then." He laughed. "I remember that he couldn't pronounce my name, so he adopted a nickname for me."

"Oh? I wouldn't think Vain would be that hard to pronounce." He caught himself, and it hit me. "Oh- Vain was the nickname, wasn't it?" He nodded.

"My name's actually Valentine," he said. "But the name Vain stuck, so I've been going by it ever since."

"What would you like to me call you?"

"It doesn't matter to me either way," he said.

"Valentine-" I shook my head. "I think I'll just stick to Vain."

"Would you prefer it if I called you by your name?" he asked suddenly. "Or even the Goddess of Time-"

I hadn't really thought about it. But.. honestly, after all this time, little bunny did have a certain ring to it. "I don't mind either way," I said. "Little bunny is.. cute. As long as the others don't pick up on it too." It was different with Vain.

Everything was different with Vain. Even though I was in this terrible future that I had feared for so long, it almost felt easy when I was at his side. When had this happened?

"Little bunny.." he said again, fondness in his eyes. He suddenly set the book aside. "There's.. something else I wanted to tell you."

"What is it?"

"Once a year, members from the base go to the Tower of Sorrow to seek the power of the Dragon of Time." I remembered Hugo telling me about it before. 'The heir of the Dragon of Time will receive his power.' "I've spoken with the leaders, and I've requested that I be the one to make the pilgrimage this year."

"What?!" The memory of him in the Eastern Forest flashed through my mind- how helpless I'd felt to see even Vain brought to his knees on the steps of the tower. "But the darkness in the Eastern Forest- it will destroy you!"

"This is the only way. Even with all my power, I don't believe I have enough power to get all of you back to your timeline. Even between Hugo and I.. But if I receive the power of the Dragon of Time, I can bring you home safe."

Going home.. Would it be worth it to go home if it meant that? "Aren't you afraid?"

He reached out and took my hand. "I am afraid of a lot of things. More than I thought. Afraid of loud noises, afraid of losing my family.. Afraid of what Lacan and Felix could do. Afraid of losing you." My heart raced at his words. "But.. when I'm around you, I'm not so afraid. I don't really understand it myself, honestly. You make me want to be stronger.

“I've been so afraid that I haven't sought out the power that I needed. But you gave me the strength. With you, I feel like I can face my problems here. I feel like I can face Lacan. You gave me hope for my own future.”

"Then.. take me with you!" I blurted out. "I can help you get through the forest!"

"Little bunny,” hesitation flashed through his eyes, “it is possible that Lacan will come after me again, even chasing me to the Tower. Are you sure about this?"

I was afraid, of course- but I didn't want to leave him alone in that forest. I couldn't. "I'm sure."

He was quiet for a moment, and then he nodded. "If you're sure," he said slowly, "I won't say no." He reached up, brushing my hair behind my ear. He smiled. "Who knows, you might just end up being my light in the darkness."

The next day, we gathered in Lucious and Caesar's office.

“I don't think I'll ever get used to seeing you with short hair,” Hugo commented idly. “Not bad at all though.”

"..That's not the reason I called you here,” Vain said, trying to change the subject. “There's a reason I called all of you here. The Goddess of Time, Mischa, and I will all be heading to the Tower of Sorrow."

"What?!" The rest of our friends were just as shocked as I was. "Do you have any idea how dangerous it is?"

"I am well aware of the danger. But it is my duty, as the heir of the Dragon of Time to receive his power."

"Then I'm going with you too," Hugo said. "I'm also one of his heirs. I can receive his power too."

"Hugo-"

"Then that settles it. We're going with you too." I looked up at Felix's voice; Willem nodded at his side. "If Lacan was willing to chase you that far, he will chase you to the forest as well."

"You are aware of what the forest will do to Dragonkins, aren't you?" Vain said in exasperation. "However bad it was for you in your timeline, it will be ten times worse for you here-"

"The darkness in the forest is because of Hugo's hatred of us," Willem pointed out. "Perhaps we can atone in a way for this."

"If Lacan's coming, then you'll need all the power that you can get," Zeus mused. "Shouldn't we all go?"

"Yeah, we can take him!" Lucious said.

"All of you-" Vain sighed as the other voices rose. "A group this size-"

"I don't think you're going to win this one, Vain," the older Lucious said; for the first time, he was smiling, a twinkle in his eyes.

"You're going to allow this?"

"I know this group. I know how determined they can be."

"Once they put their mind to something, they'll never stop," the older Caesar said with a laugh.

Vain sighed. "Very well."

"Then," the older Lucious raised his chin as he faced us, "your mission is to head to the Tower of Sorrow so Hugo and Vain can receive the power of the Dragon of Time."

Vain turned back to us with a determined look in his eye. "I will get you back to your timeline safe and sound, I promise."

But something felt off. 'Once we get back- then what?'

I decided to go for a walk through the base to clear my head.

'Why are you so worried about this?' I asked myself. 'Right now, we just need to worry about getting to the Tower of Sorrow..' But the worry wouldn't leave me alone.

"Ah, there you are." I almost jumped at the voice; I turned to see Lucious, the older Lucious, there.

"Sir- I mean-" I didn't know what to call him.

"Is there something on your mind? You seem a little jumpy." I took a seat on the bench.

"It's stupid," I said. "It's nothing."

"If you need a listening ear, I'm happy to listen," he said, taking a seat on the bench next to me. "No matter how stupid it may seem."

"I.." I looked up at him. "It's about Hugo and Vain. Once they receive the Dragon of Time's power, we'll be able to go home safe. Our timeline will be saved, and we'll no longer have to worry. But.." The words suddenly became so hard to say. "Then they'll have no more reason to stay with us."

"You care a lot about them, don't you?"

"Is it that obvious?" I wondered if Vain could see it too.

"They care a lot about you too." I looked up, and the older Lucious had a wistful look in his eye. "I've known the two of them for a long time- I've practically watched them grow up here- and they're different around you. When they're around you and your friends, they're happier than I've ever seen them." My heart raced as I heard his words.

'They're happier around me?'

"Liz.." He looked at me. "I am the leader of this base. If you want me to, you need only say the word and I will order them to stay with you."

"Lucious-"

"Is that what you want?"

'Yes- yes-' I wanted them to stay. More than anything, I wanted them to stay. I wanted them to come back with us and live happily. I wanted Vain to stay at my side- I wanted-

But.. it wasn't fair to ask that. They had a life here, in this future; I couldn't ask them to drop everything to stay with me. It wasn't fair to them. It wasn't fair to the others of the other timelines, the ones who they wouldn't be able to reach. I'd always have a feeling I was holding them back.

"I.. I can't ask for that," I said. "It wouldn't be fair to them."

"I had a feeling you'd say that," he said. "You always think of others before yourself. But who knows? Perhaps, even so, you will find a way to make it work." He looked over at me. "Sometimes life has a way of handing you what you want when you least expect it."

And just like that, a few days later, we had made it to the Eastern Forest. And my heart was racing as I looked up; I could see the Tower of Sorrow in the distance. It felt so strange to be back here where everything had begun- and everything would end.


	11. The Darkness

I felt a chill as I stared into the dark forest. However bad it had been before, it seemed ten times worse now.

Vain turned back to us. “If any of you wish to turn back,” he said, “now is the time.”

“Ha!” Zeus said. “We've faced this darkness before. We can do it again.”

“That's right!” Alfonse said. “The most important thing is getting the two of you to the Tower, right?”

“Don't forget, we should be on the look out for Lacan,” Hugo warned us. “It's possible he'll try to follow us here as well.”

“Then we'd better get to the Tower quickly.”

From the moment that we stepped into the forest, the darkness was thick around us. Once again, I could barely see a foot in front of my face- but I could hear the voices around me.

"Ugh," Felix growled, "it's even worse this time around."

"This miasma is just like yours," Zeus pointed out. "Can't you just make it go away?"

"Don't you think I would have done that by now if I could?" he snarled back.

"Loud.." I heard Vain's voice from just ahead of me. I reached out and took his hand.

"How are you doing?" I asked gently. He seemed to relax.

"Better," he said. "It is- loud, but-"

And I heard an all too familiar voice. "Why did I know that you all would be here?"

"You were right," Hugo growled. "He's followed us here."

"Is he going to follow us all the way to the tower?!"

"You need to get ahead of us!" Lucious said. "We'll hold him back!"

"The most important thing is getting the two of them to the Tower," Caesar agreed. "We'll stay back."

"I should-" But Vain held steady onto my hand. When I looked up, I saw something in his eyes, something silently begging me not to go.

"We'll take them on ahead!"

Even through the darkness, I ran until I couldn't any more- until each breath was painful and I could no longer hear Lacan's voice- nor my friends chanting their incantations.

"Who's still here?" I asked. I felt Vain's hand in mine; I looked up to see Hugo behind me, Willem and Felix trailing behind him, Willem carrying Mischa in his arms. He gently set Mischa down, and she scampered to Vain's side.

Six. From twelve of us, we were down to the six of us.

"I hope that everyone's going to be all right," I said.

"We just have to believe in them," Willem said, though I could see the pain in his eyes. I doubted he wanted to leave them behind any more then I did.

We kept walking, but the darkness only seemed to grow thicker and thicker.

And then suddenly it got a little brighter- and I looked up to see Willem's horns glowing. "Perhaps I can provide a little light." He still looked a little pale, but he looked stronger than he had the last time we were here. I noticed Hugo and Felix were trailing close to his side. 

"Do you think that this darkness will be enough to slow Lacan down too?" I asked.

"It's hard to say," Felix said. "I was able to use the power of darkness to make my way through last time, so he may be able to use his power.. but even I'm having a hard time here."

"Hugo's hatred has only grown over the years," Willem said.

My heart broke as I heard them. 'No matter how hard I find this darkness,' I thought, 'it's a thousand times harder for them. It's my duty to support them- and get them through this darkness.'

As we walked, I was aware of Vain's presence ahead of me and Hugo's just behind me. But suddenly I couldn't feel Hugo's presence. I looked back, and I saw that he was lingering. His face looked ashen, and he was staggering- "This darkness is.. stronger than I thought."

"Hugo-" Vain was pulling away, rushing towards him, "you can't give up here- we still have so much farther left to go."

We couldn't leave Hugo behind, but- if Hugo got stuck here, Vain wouldn't leave him behind.

"Well, that only leaves one option then." Felix suddenly grabbed Hugo, throwing him over his shoulder.

"What are you doing?!" Hugo cried.

"Wizardess, cat," Felix snapped at us, "you get him to the tower. Willem and I will focus on getting him to the tower."

Vain looked between them. "Hugo-"

"Don't worry about me," he said, and Vain let out a bitter laugh.

"I never thought that I'd be leaving my brother with my greatest enemies. Watch out for him, all right?"

"Of course."

Even with Willem's light, the darkness was growing thicker and thicker by the second- until I could no longer see my hand in front of my face. But the only thing I was aware of was Vain's hand in mine, pulling me through the darkness- and Mischa brushing against our ankles.

"Mischa, are you okay with this darkness?" I asked.

"Don't worry, I'm fine," she said. "The darkness doesn't affect me the same way it does to you."

"That would explain it," I said. "I was wondering- the last time that we were here, you found me. Thank goodness that you did. If you hadn't, I would have been-"

"Liz-" I felt Vain squeeze my hand.

"Oh." I wondered if the darkness was starting to affect him. 'The last time, he had nightmares of the alarms-' "Is this too loud?"

"No- actually, I was going to say keep talking. Everything- everything is really loud right now," he winced, "but your voice- it's like your voice is drowning out the panic. Just.. keep talking."

"I can do that." All I had to do was just keep talking. That wasn't so hard at all. "What should I talk about?"

"Anything. Tell me about your life at the school. Any funny stories you have."

"Oh, I've got a lot of those! I used to be a terrible wizardess. I can't count the number of times that I made it rain frogs or made things grow legs- Klaus used to get so mad at me-"

In the darkness, I could make out the shapes of trees- barren. If I glanced down at the ground, would I find the earth barren and cracked beneath us?

"Little bunny?" I looked up at Vain's voice. "Are you all right?"

"I-I'm fine." I had to keep talking; everything would be all right once we got out of this forest.

"Hey, can I ask you a question?” Maybe if I heard his voice, I'd be comforted. “You've been through a lot of timelines, right?”

“..More than I can count.”

“What is your favorite thing about the past? Of anything that you've encountered?”

“My favorite thing? Well,” he avoided my eyes, “I suppose that would have to be-”

A piercing cry filled the sky- the roar of a dragon, so loud that I could hear it pounding in my chest. I covered my ears, desperate to block it out.

"Liz?!" I could hear a voice calling me faintly in the background, but I couldn't hear it.

I had to keep talking, all I could do was block out the noise with my own voice, and I didn't think about what I was saying. “Do you ever wish-” -louder, louder- “that you could stop?”

I didn't hear his voice. Suddenly, I couldn't hear anything over the roaring-

I felt a hand in mine, squeezing it tightly. "Liz, I'm here, I'm here! It's all right-"

Vain's voice. Vain was calling out to me. I looked up, and I saw him before me, holding my hand so tight it almost hurt. The roaring was fading- "Vain?"

"You're all right. I don't know what you're hearing, but I'm here, Liz. It's all an illusion; you have to stay with me!"

"I-" But the dragon roared once more, filling the sky; I could feel its roar in my chest like my own heartbeat.

"Liz! Don't listen! I'll help you through this!"

Smoke was filling my vision- the forest was burning, burning-

I screamed out his name. The world was burning, and I was all alone. "Vain! Help me!"

"Stay with me!" I felt his hands on my face. I could just see him in front of me. "Whatever you're seeing, it's not real!"

"I'm afraid-" I cried. I was more afraid than I'd ever been. I was lost in this forest, the dragon's roar above me- I was helpless, how did I ever think I could make it through this forest?

  
  


"I'm afraid too-" he told me, "I was afraid of this darkness- but you pulled me through it! With your help, I was able to make it through the darkness- I couldn't do it on my own, but when you were with me, I-"

And then it wasn't roaring- it was screaming. As fire filled the air, I could hear my friend's voices screaming around me- Lucious and Caesar and Hugo and Vain's voices screaming-

"They're screaming in pain- they're all in pain!" And suddenly the future that I feared was coming alive in a cacophony of voices- "It's all my fault- I couldn't save them!"

"No, it's not! You're stronger than this, Liz! You saved them! No matter how many hopeless it seemed, you refused to give up! You saved your timeline! You saved all of them!"

Even through the screams, I could hear his voice distinctly, could see his shape wavering. I clung to his voice, trying to pull myself out of that darkness, but the screaming-

"You did the impossible, Liz. That's why-" The screaming was louder, louder; I covered my ears, but he took my face in his hands. And I could hear his voice distinctly even though the screaming, "That's why I love you!"

'Love? He loves me?' And suddenly it was silent. When I looked up, through the darkness, all I saw was him. No flames, no smoke. We were in the Eastern Forest, and it was just me and him- the man who loved me.

"Little bunny?" he asked cautiously.

"I'm sorry- I almost lost myself in the darkness."

"It's all right. Everything's all right now. I know how easy it can be to get lost in your own darkness." I looked up, and my heart raced as I realized where we were. Without even realizing it, we'd arrived on the steps of the tower.

"We're here-"

"Yes. Come on." He helped me to my feet, pulling me close. "Do you think you can make it a little bit longer?" 

"I do." We'd made it all this way. He'd pulled me from that darkness. If he was by my side, I knew I wouldn't fall.

At last, we stepped into the Tower, slamming the door behind us. All of the darkness was gone, and it was just the two of us. Vain sighed, running his hand through his hair. "That was.. scary. I feel like I've just run a marathon."

"We made it."

He smiled. "We did, and I couldn't have done it without you." He turned to me, taking my hands. "When I saw you hurting, I forgot my own fears. I'm glad I could pull you from that darkness- like you did for me."

I remembered what he'd said, and my heart was racing again. "Vain- did you really mean what you said back there?"

His face went beat red, and I heard Mischa laughing at his feet. "Yes. Mischa said.. she said to tell you how I really felt." He took my hand. "That was my true feelings." He smiled. "I love you, little bunny."

After all this time, I knew my feelings for him. I could say it without a doubt. "I love you too!” And my heart dropped as I remembered all of the questions that I asked him. I had asked him if he wanted to stay, and he had answered. And though I wanted to hide, I knew that I had to face this.

“Vain, what were you going to say back there? When I asked you if you wanted to stay?”

He was quiet, and then I saw resolution in his eyes. “..I do. I know that I have a duty to the people here, but.. I want to stay with you. I want to stay with you in your time. I want-”

Suddenly, there was a pounding at the door, and Vain froze. In my terror and in my bliss, I'd almost forgotten that we were still being pursued. 'Lacan's caught up with us-' 

"Let us in!" a familiar voice cried. "We didn't come all this way to be locked out of the tower!"

'Felix!' I ran to open the door, and I saw Felix, Willem, and Hugo. Hugo looked as pale as a ghost, but he stumbled triumphantly into the tower.

"That was a nightmare.."

Vain pulled Hugo into a hug. "Thank goodness you're all right."

"We brought him here safe and sound, as requested," Felix said.

Against all odds, we'd all made it to Tower of Sorrow, safe and sound. And now all that was left was to recieve the blessing of the Dragon of Time.


	12. The Tower

Things were quiet as we climbed the stairs in the tower. "It feels like it's been such a long time since we've been here," Felix murmured. "Last time I climbed these stairs, I was trying to steal his power."

"Well, it has been a long time since then. About.. thirty years?"

Felix waved him off. "Don't get cheeky."

"I can't believe that we're about to meet the Dragon of Time." I'd heard all the legends since I'd grown up. "Do you think he looks more like you or like Hugo?"

Vain seemed to relax a little as he talked. "Well, I'd figure-"

Pounding. There was a pounding on the door. "That was a good try," a voice snarled, "but it's going to take more than that to keep me down!"

"Lacan-" He had followed us all of this way, even with everything we'd thrown his way. "He'll never stop, will he? He'll keep pursuing us until he destroys us-" No. We'd come too far to let it all end here. I turned back to Vain and Hugo. "The Dragon Room is at the top of the Tower. We'll hold him off, you just go."

"I'm not going to leave you here-"

"All of our efforts will be wasted if he catches you. Your duty is to get to the Dragon of Time! Just go!"

"..All right." He turned and hurried up the stairs, Hugo hurrying after him.

'All I have to do is hold him off for long enough-'

"Incoming!" Felix growled, swirling darkness together in his hand. "I never thought I'd defend those pesky time travelers, but here we are." Willem's horns were starting to glow.

Lacan stumbled up the stairs, looking all the worse for wear, his long hair disheveled, stumbling towards us, but there was a strange light in his eyes. "I have to admit, your group has been giving me quite the show. You just keep throwing obstacles in my way. That frozen heart, those humans in the forest- to even come this far to the Tower of Sorrow."

"You just don't stop, do you? I thought the darkness in the forest would have slowed you down."

He let out a laugh, vicious and cruel as he stormed up the stairs towards us. "That might have stopped a Lacan in another time, but I don't fear the darkness any longer. I suffered in that darkness for long enough.

"If you are who you claim to be, Felix, then you should know what you've done." His horns started glowing with light. "I still remember the day when you awakened me- screaming in pain, burning with pain, a pain that's never stopped, while the world burned down around me. And you know what you told me?"

"Lacan-" Felix stumbled back. "I-"

"You told me to harness that pain, to wield it against those who you've hurt you- and who has hurt me more than you?!" He cast out a blast of light, sending him crashing to the floor.

"Felix!" Willem quickly threw up a barrier around us, but one blast from Lacan sent him crashing too.

"And dear old faithful Willem, always clinging to Felix's side, never daring to stray, never daring to question. Even when the world fell."

"Stop!" I cried. "Saggita lumen!" I cast my spells desperately at him, but they seem to bounce right off of him.

"Oh, and you.. How could I forget about this pesky little girl?" He flicked his hand, sending a blast of light my way. I just barely managed to dodge out of the way. "You're trickier than you look, I give you that. But you're just a human, after all." His next attack hit.

Burning pain hit me as I hit the wall; I could barely see through the pain. "Lacan-"

"Hush now, human." His horns were starting to glow again. "I'll destroy you, but you can take comfort, wizardess- Lily's sons will follow you soon."

'I-I can't let him get to the top- I can't let him get to Vain-'

With that thought, I felt a familiar power pulsing within me. 'The power of the Goddess!'

Just before Lacan's attack hit, I summoned my own light- freezing him on the spot!

"Liz-" Okay, I didn't have much time. I ran over to Willem's side.

"I think I can heal your injuries." I remembered I had done this once before, what felt like a lifetime ago. Just like before, his wounds were healed in an instant.

I went over to Felix, healing his wounds as well. "You are strange, wizardess," he said, "to heal your enemy..."

"Do you still think you're the enemy here?" I said, and he fell quiet.

"I'm the one who did this to Lacan. It's my duty to stop him."

Lacan came to, shaking his head. "What happened?"

'Perhaps I can pull his little trick on him-' I may not have been able to create dopplegangers like he did, but I could speed up my own time.

"Over here, Lacan." I cast a light spell at him, then quickly stepped out of the way.

"Where'd you go?"

"Now's our chance!" Felix quickly blasted him with darkness, Willem following with light. 

He quickly threw up a barrier of light, but it only just held. "Where are you? How are you doing this? Did those two come back? They're just-"

"You have no idea who you're dealing with, do you, Lacan?" I asked. "Those two aren't the only ones with time powers."

His eyes widened. "It can't be- I saw the knights destroy you-"

Something came flying towards Lacan- a maroon disk, knocking him to the ground.

And a second later, a powerful light followed it, followed by a familiar voice. "Hey, Lacan, sun in your eye!" Lacan fell back.

And suddenly they were there, glowing in their brilliant light.

  
  


"How? How is this possible? You shouldn't have the power to do this-"

"You have no idea who you're messing with, do you? We are the heirs of time. And he has given us his power to take you down."

And how quickly the tide of battle changed with the five of us! No matter what he threw at us, it bounced off us like water.

"Is that the best you could do?" Vain said with a laugh.

"You-" Lacan dashed towards him, but one move from Vain froze him in place.

"I think it's time to end this," Vain said. "He chased us all the way here, and he will never ever stop unless we stop him first." I looked to Felix and Willem, but they met our eyes.

"..Do what you need to do."

Hugo stepped forward; his magic circle turning into a disk. "What are you doing?!"

"We're ending your wretched reign.”

"You can't do this! You're nothing against me- you're just a wretched human born- I am the light-"

"Yes," Vain said, "and we'll send you back to the dark where you belong."

For the first time in centuries, flowers bloomed in the Tower of Sorrow.

All was still-

And when the shock of the moment wore off, my heart leapt for joy. "W-we did it!" I grabbed Vain, pulling him into a hug. "Vain, we did it-"

"Careful, little bunny, we're on a staircase!" He managed to pull himself up, wrapping his arms around my waist.

"I can't believe that you did it," I said. "You inherited the powers of the Dragon of Time-"

Silence.

I looked between them, and something flickered in their eyes. "Vain? Hugo? What is it?"

Vain sighed. "..I didn't take his power."

"What?! But your power-"

"That was all our own," he said.

"So then you didn't make it to the top of the tower, after all?"

"No, we did," Vain said. "And we saw him-"

"He offered us the power to return home- at a price."

"A price I could.. I could not afford to take." He reached out and gently touched my face. "And then I heard your voice, and I knew I had to help you- no matter what."

My heart tightened at his words. "A price?" I asked. "What was the price?"

They were silent; when I looked up at Felix and Willem, they looked like they understood.

"Vain?"

He sighed, reaching over and touching my cheek. "Come on, little bunny, there's someone waiting to meet you."

I had been in the Tower of Sorrow before, and it was no less chilling to step into the shrine once more. The last time, I'd seen the stone dragon enshrined on the pedestal, but that was no longer-

Now, there was just a man.

He wore elaborate black robes; long, silver hair trailed down his back. He rose to greet us.

"You've returned," he said. "And you brought familiar faces. My old comrades- and the Goddess of Time."

"Sir-" And it hit me that I was really standing before the Dragon of Time. Oh, what did I say to him? Did I curtsy? "Ah, it's an honor to meet you!"

"I could say the same, O Goddess of Time," he said with a gentle smile.

Felix let out a humorless laugh. "It's been a long time, old man."

"Felix-" Willem said, tugging at his sleeve.

"It's all right. You may have been the one to steal my powers all those years ago," Felix's face quickly went red, and he looked away, "but you have protected my grandsons and brought them here. I thank you for that."

"It's the least we can do," Willem said.

"You can see that?" I asked.

"I see all." I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, but- still, to stand before the Dragon of Time-

"Sir, can I ask you something? Can you see what happened to my friends? They were fighting Lacan in the forest, but.."

"I see," he closed his eyes, "that they are appearing safe and sound back at the base right about now. Lacan has wounded them, but their wounds will be quickly taken care of, none the worse for wear."

'Thank goodness,' I thought. After all of that, they were okay.

"Vain, Hugo," he called, "if you have returned, does that mean that you've been considering my offer?"

"I.."

"Sir, what is your offer?" I asked quietly. He looked to Vain and Hugo, and they quietly nodded.

"I have awaited the return of my heirs for a long time," he said, closing his eyes again. "Awaited for someone to receive my power, and now you have come here. I will give you all the power that you desire- but, in return, Vain and Hugo, will have to take my place- and become the new Dragons of Time.”


	13. Unhappy Ending

'_Take your place?'_ I looked between Vain and Hugo, their expressions unreadable. It felt like some silly joke-

“We came all this way-”

“Grandfather,” Vain asked, “can we have some time to think about this?”

“Very well.”

“We'll take our friends back to the past,” Vain said quietly. “We'll talk about it there. And if we come back..”

“Then you know the answer is a yes.”

I blinked- and I was outside the gates of the Eastern Forest. After the battle, I suddenly felt weak, crumpling to my knees.

“Are you all right?” Vain helped me to my feet.

'I'm home- I'm finally home-'

“Yeah,” I said with a smile, “I think I'm going to be just fine.”

“So that's what he offered, huh?”

Hugo was sitting with us on his porch; Vain was taking a rest. And now Hugo and I had just finished telling the others about our encounter with the Dragon of Time.

“That must be a tough decision,” I said. I remembered what the older Lucious had said when we were back at the base. He had offered me the choice, but it had not been mine to make.

“I've already made my choice,” Hugo said. “I want to stay here.”

“Are you sure?” He nodded. “Well, we're happy to have you here, Hugo.”

I showed Vain all around the campus, finally taking him to the rooftop. “If you look, you can see the entire academy from here-”

“Liz, I need to talk with you.”

Somehow, I knew. I knew. “Well, we can talk on the way back to the village, hmm? I'm sure that Hugo's waiting for us-”

“Liz.” He took my shoulder, turning me to face him, but I looked at me. “Liz.. I've decided to accept Grandfather's offer.”

'_No, no, no-'_

“You told me,” I said, “you told me that you wanted to stay with me-”

“I know. I want that more than anything. I want to stay with you, and learn about this time. I want to live here with you. But.. I have a duty to my people. They need me. The people of my future, the people back at the base- the people of the other timelines- if I had that power, I could save them all.”

“Then.. let me go with you!” I'd have to leave everything behind, and I'd never be able to come back, but.. I could do it. If he was there, I could do it.

“No. You have a life to live here; I cannot take you away from it.” He tilted my chin to look up at him.

My stomach churned, and I knew I had to tell him. “Vain.. Hugo told me-”

“I know; he already told me. He's chosen to stay. I cannot begrudge him that.”

After all this time.. I knew that they would someday have to go home, but I never thought the day would actually come. “Vain-”

He kissed my forehead. “You fought hard for this future, Liz. You deserve to live here in peace.” I choked back the words and the tears.

“Vain, I love you.”

“I love you too, little bunny.”

And just like that, he was gone.

It was strange, to return to my dorm, to my life, like nothing had ever happened. And a few days later, I had a familiar visitor.

“Liz? Can I stay with you?”

My heart was in my throat as I saw her. “Mischa? W-what are you doing here?”

“Vain asked me to stay with you,” she said.

I hugged her tight, and only then did I finally let my tears fall.


	14. Normal Ending

I sank to the ground as we touched down in front of the gates. 'We're home,' I thought. 'At long last, we're finally home.'

“Are you all right?” Vain reached out and helped me to my feet.

“Yeah, I'm just.. I'm just glad to be home.”

It was strange to be going back to our peaceful little village, after being in the future for so long. As soon as we got to the village, most of our friends went to sleep, but I stayed up late talking with Hugo. In the end, his mind was made up.

Finally, I found myself wandering out to the flower field.

“I thought I'd find you here.” I looked up to see Vain.

“Couldn't sleep?”

“Not at all. I have a big decision to make, after all.”

I had tried to push it to the back of my mind, but I'm sure it had never left his. I wondered if I should ask, but I didn't want to push him. “What are you thinking?”

He sighed. “If I have the powers of the Dragon of Time, I could help a lot of people. Lacan is gone, but Felix is still out there. With Grandfather's power, we would have a fighting chance against Felix. I could help the resistance a lot, more than I ever dreamed. And.. I could help the people of the other timelines too. We might be able to actually help save more timelines. But.."

"But?"

He sighed as he turned to me. "You have done the impossible, Liz. You have created a timeline of peace. There is.. nothing more that I can do for you here. If I leave this timeline- I will never be able to come back."

He reached out and took my hand. "I want more than anything to stay with you. I want to stay and learn more about this timeline. But I don't- I don't think that's what I'm destined for."

I swallowed back my tears. 'Come on, Liz, you always knew that this day was coming. You always knew he'd have to go back home.'

That night, I had a lot of thinking to do. But when morning came, I had made my choice. "Vain, I want to go with you."

"Are you sure?" he asked. "You'd be leaving your whole life behind."

"I know. What's important to me is being with you. Besides, I am the Goddess of Time. I can help you in the future as well. And this time, I'll be prepared!"

And so the decision was made.

When the light faded, I was back in the Tower, and the Dragon of Time was waiting for us.

"You have made the choice to return?"

"We want to help our people," Vain said. "Your power can help us."

My heart was in my throat as I stood back to watch. Vain and Hugo knelt before the Dragon of Time. "O Guardian of Time.. O Heir of Time.."

  
  


He was chanting a spell that I didn't recognize, but- after a few minutes, Vain and Hugo were glowing in a new light. "Arise as the new Dragons of Time."

When they arose, he smiled. "After all these years, I could finally see my family again. It has been an honor to see you again."

And then he was gone, leaving only flowers behind.

Vain knelt down and picked up the flowers. He gave a bittersweet smile. "Lilies.."

When we stepped into the base, Lucious and Caesar were waiting for us. Their eyes went wide as they saw him; one look at Vain and Hugo, glowing in their new light, and it was undeniable.

"The mission was a success," Vain said. "We have become the new Dragons of Time."

"Congratulations, Vain and Hugo. Your mission is a success."

Now, we had a lot of work to do.

"What do you think, Vain? Should we chance it?"

I slipped into the office. Vain closed his eyes, looking into the future. "It is not safe to go," he intoned. "I see that if you go, the Knights will attack." 

"All right. Where will be safe to go?" I smiled as I watched them.

It felt like no time at all since Vain and Hugo had come back to the future, but we were already making great progress. With their powers, we had found Felix's base, and we were going to fight them.

"Oh, hello, little bunny," Vain said with a smile as he got up. "How have you been settling in?"

"Everything's been going fine! The plants are starting to come in nicely." This time, I'd come prepared; I'd brought a bunch of seeds to the future- and as much food as I could grab.

"Let me just finish up here, and then we can go together."

We took a walk through the halls, hand in hand; people would call out greetings as we passed by. "The people have seemed to really take to you."

"Everyone's so nice here. I'm glad that I could pay back everyone for their kindness."

"I understand that feeling." He turned me to face him, touching my cheek gently. "I know I've said this a million times, but I am so glad that you came with me."

"I wouldn't have left you behind. Besides, I can help the people here."

"You know, it's strange. For the longest time, I believed that this future was unable to be saved. That no matter how many timelines we saved, ours would remain in ruins. But with you.. you give me hope for my future."

"Our future."

"Our future," he agreed with a smile. "And I see a wonderful future in store for us. One that we'll create together."


	15. Happy Ending

My mind was still racing as we arrived at the base, the Dragon of Time's words running through my mind. 'Become the new Dragon of Time?'

Lucious and Caesar were waiting for us when we arrived at the base. Actually, a whole crowd of people were waiting for us. “Have you completed the mission?”

“We have received power from the Dragon of Time.” He wouldn't let us leave empty-handed; he had given the two of them enough power to fuel the base for a long time. However, for the two of them to unlock their full potential, they would need to take his offer.

“And Lacan is no longer,” Hugo said.

Surprise flickered across Lucious's face. “To think that you would take down Lacan himself- well done.” Applause broke out among the people, and a few people even whistled.

“Sir Lucious, Sir Caesar.. There is something else that we need to discuss with you.”

He studied them for a moment. “Very well. Step into the office.”

When they had finished telling their story, Lucious sighed. “I should have known that something like this would come up.” He leaned over the desk, peering up at them. “Have you made your decision?”

Vain was quiet- and then he gently reached out and took my hand. I could feel the tension in his hands, but his voice didn't waver. “Going to the Tower of Sorrow has made me realize something. I've finally realized what is precious to me. I know that this is a lot to ask, but..” He squared his shoulders as he faced them. “When the Goddess of Time and her friends go back to her timeline, I wish to go back with her and stay with her.”

Lucious and Caesar were quiet, and then their gaze fell on Hugo. “And how about you, Hugo? Do you feel the same?”

He nodded without hesitation. “I do.”

“Very well then.” Lucious smiled. “You have our permission to go.”

“What? Just like that?”

“It wasn't hard to see that this was coming,” Caesar said with a laugh. “It's hard not to imagine travelling in a timeline for so long without getting attached. We knew that sooner or later, you'd want to settle down."

"Not to mention, it was easy to see how smitten you two were with each other," Lucious said with a smirk. I could see him glance over at me, and I'm sure my face was bright red.

"Don't you need us to keep fighting?"

"It's true that you have helped us a lot over the years. You even did the impossible; we thought that nobody could take down Lacan. But we've been at this a long time now. There are those who've fought this long battle before you- and those who will be fighting this battle long after."

"Enjoy your happily ever after."

It took a few days for Vain and Hugo to get their stuff together; they actually ended up giving a lot of their stuff away to the people of the base. But, finally, it was time for all of us to return home.

"Luckily, we have enough power left over to take all of you back. Are you ready?"

"It will be nice to get back home. It feels like it's been forever since we've been to our timeline."

We all gathered around Vain and Hugo in a circle. I reached out and took Vain's hand- and then there was a bright flash of light.

We touched down in front of the Eastern Forest; I winced in the bright light.

'I wonder how long it's been since we left..'

"So, where do we go from here?" Zeus asked.

"I say we go back to the village!" Alfonse said brightly. "I'm sure that we can figure out what to do from there."

"It should be important," Caesar said with a sigh. "There's still the chance that we'll have to go back to school tomorrow."

Oh yeah. Adjusting back to life in the past was not going to be fun, but.. hey, at least we were safe.

That night, we all ended up settling in the village. I was staying in my cabin for the night when I heard a knock on the door.

"Oh, Vain. What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to keep a promise I made to you a long time ago. At least it feels like a long time ago." I tilted my head. He looked up at me. "I wanted to make you dinner."

My heart swelled. "The man I love making me dinner doesn't sound too bad." I couldn't help but smile; I doubt I'll ever get tired of saying that. "But I think it would be even better to cook with you."

He smiled. "Well, I can do that."

We fumbled a bit at first with the ingredients. "I don't think I've used this before. We don't have this spice in the future." It was strange to see the usually confident time traveler so panicking over cooking. And truth be told, it was more than a little cute.

"I'm getting to see a new side of you every day," I said.

"You'll be seeing a bunch of new sides of me from now on," he said with a smile. "We'll learn a little more about each other every day."

"That's right." He'd be by my side every day. There was no more threat of them going back to the future and leaving me behind.

"It's still a little strange to think that I'll be living here with you from now on," he admitted. "A little scary too. I mean, I'm still not sure what I'll do here- I just know that I want to be with you."

"Well," I said, "we could always get you a job at the Ministry. You already know Klaus. It might be a bit tricky to get you in with Thanatos, but-"

"Oh, right," he said with a guilty look, "I should have told you about that-" Suddenly, a lot of things were starting to make sense-

His eyes widened in panic. "Liz, I'm kidding!"

"Oh, thank goodness." I let out a sigh of relief. "Don't scare me like that- oh, crap, the food!"

Luckily, we managed to save the food from being burnt, and we sat down to a lovely dinner. "I've never tried cooking anything like this before," Vain said, "so I don't know how well it's going to turn out.."

"I'm sure it'll be fine." I took a bite of the dinner, and he anxiously looked at my face. "It's delicious!"

"Really?" He took a bite as well and smiled. "You're right. I've never had food like this before."

Mischa jumped on the table. "May I try some?" I gave her a few bites. "Your cooking is as delicious as always, Liz. I've never tasted anything like this from Vain though."

"I thought I cooked fine."

After everything, we'd have many more peaceful days like this. 'I'm looking forward to it!'

Vain was pacing the floor. "They should be here any minute now.."

"Vain, everything's going to be all right. Please stop pacing."

It had been five years since we'd come back from the future; it had only been a few days since the Dragonkin had returned- and Lacan had awakened. Felix and Willem had traveled the world to seek a way to bring them back peacefully; Vain, Hugo, and I had done our best to help them. As you can imagine, we were both nervous to meet the Lacan of our timeline. However, he had agreed to meet him.

I could hear Felix's voice from just outside the door. "And there's my house-" It was rare to hear the king of dragons be so excited, but I could hardly blame him.

Vain took a deep breath as they knocked on the door. "Come in."

My breath hitched in my throat as I saw him. He looked just the same as he did in the future- but he was also different. His eyes seemed kinder.

And his eyes went wide as he saw us. "You.. you must be Lilly's son," he said with a gentle smile. "I've heard a lot about you."

"Felix, can you give us a moment alone?" Vain asked. He stepped out into the village square.

Lacan looked away nervously. "Willem and Felix told me about your future. They told me about who we all.. who I became. I cannot apologize enough for what I did-"

"It wasn't you," Vain said. "It was the Lacan from another timeline, one lost in the wake of his anger. Just as Felix is no longer the Felix who destroyed the world- you are not the Lacan who hurt my family."

He let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Vain."

"Now, I believe that there's somebody waiting for you." He let out a brilliant smile as he stepped back into the village. "That was.. a relief."

"I'm glad that you could work things out."

"There is someone else who's waiting for us in the Tower of Sorrow," he said as he took a seat at the table. "Will you come with me?"

"Of course."

This time, walking through the Eastern Forest was a piece of cake; Vain had returned enough power from the Dragon of Time to clear the forests with ease.

As we were walking, hand in hand, Vain said, "You know.. There is something that I've been wondering about for a long time."

"What is it?"

"When we fought Felix here before, we thought that his power collided with yours, and that's what sent all of us to the future. But.. Felix said that he lost that power."

"You think it was something else?"

"I wonder- I wonder if it wasn't Grandfather who sent us there after all."

"Come to think of it.." The memory flashed through my mind. "I remember a dragon's roar right before we were transported."

"You too? I always thought it was just me." He smiled. "Maybe he knew it was fate."

We stopped at the steps of the tower; Vain was so confidant, but now he seemed to hesitate. "Hugo said he'd meet us here, but he's probably already in there. And so is she."

"Are you ready?"

"I never thought I'd get this chance after all these years. I never thought I would get the chance to leave in a peaceful future- but we did it. And it's all thanks to you." He squeezed my hand.

After all this time of fighting, we'd done it. We'd created the peaceful future we'd dreamed of for years.

"We did it together." And suddenly the panic hit me. "Oh, no, I'm about to meet my future mother-in-law-"

"Don't worry." He scooped me up in his arms, carrying me like a bride. "She's going to love you." 

  
  


He gave me a sweet kiss. "I know I do."

I couldn't help but smile. "I love you too."

_In a future of ruins, two figures watched the tower in the wake of Lacan's demise- one of darkness, one of dimmest light._

_ Felix sighed. "Lacan destroyed himself. What a fool."_

_ His companion fell silent. They had spoken of a peaceful future, the world that he had dreamed of, once upon a time. A world and someone he once thought gone. 'Could it be..'_

_ "Come on, Willem. There's work to be done."_

_ "Yes, I think there is."_

_ Vain and Liz were gone, but a new revolution was just about to begin._


End file.
